Tag Archives: legal repression

More from Turkey

Campaigns, international, media freedom, Turkey

Last week I not only attended the Odatv trial (see blog below). The day before (29 January) I was joined by Mustafa Kuleli (General Secretary of the Journalists Union of Turkey, TGS) at the first hearing against journalists Can Dündar (Cumhuriyet), Utku Çakirözer (Cumhuriyet), Hakan Gülseven (Yurt) and Nazli Ilicak (Bugün).

The journalists are being sued by the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his wife Emine and son Bilal for alleged violation of privacy and defamation following their reporting of corruption probes in Turkish politics. A real family affair it seems. As Can was speaking at a conference in Germany and could not be present, the case was adjourned to 26 March 2015. Continue reading More from Turkey →

Odatv trials – more of the same

international, media freedom, Turkey,

It is now over a year since the Odatv journalists had faced their accuser in court (the last hearing was on 12 December 2013). The case, due to be held on 1 April 2014 was postponed. Although reforms to the courts resulted in the case being held under the new set up, there we were, on 30 January, for the resumed hearing in the same Caglayan Judgement Palace in Istanbul, a short distance from the modern Florence Nightingale State hospital. You can change the court but it does not seem to change the outcome. After just over half a day’s hearing the three judges ruled that the case be adjourned until 12 June (5 days after the national elections). Continue reading Odatv trials – more of the same →

Brazen attack on press freedom in Turkey condemned

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The government-orchestrated crackdown on independent critical media outlets in Turkey took a turn for the worse yesterday (14 December 2014) with dawn raids on Turkey’s largest newspaper Zaman and popular national TV network Samanyolu TV that led to the detention of top managers at the media outlets. A total of 31 people—mostly high ranked media personnel, directors and producers of popular television serials and police officers—were taken into custody by the police. Continue reading Brazen attack on press freedom in Turkey condemned →