Freedom House Condemns Arrests of 20 Turkish Journalists
Freedom House is appalled by the arrests of 20 Turkish journalists during police raids December 20, and calls for their immediate release. Among those arrested were journalist Sevinç Tuncelli from the pro-Kurdish DiHA, Çağdaş Ulus from Vatan and Mustafa Özer from Agence France Presse . The motive behind the arrests is not clear, though police claim confiscated equipment points to evidence of involvement with the Kurdistan Communities Union.
Press freedom and freedom of expression is guaranteed by the constitution, but undermined by other legal provisions, and in practice only partly upheld. Rated only Partly Free in Freedom House’s Freedom of the Press index, Turkey has one of the largest numbers of imprisoned journalists in the world – 65 in jail as of December 2011, according to the International Federation of Journalists. Amendments to 2006’s Anti-Terrorism Law allow journalists to be imprisoned for up to three years for disseminating the statements and propaganda of terrorist organizations. Members of the pro-Kurdish press have often been accused of collaborating with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a designated terrorist organization. In March 2011, police raided the homes of 12 journalists whom they accused of being part of a terrorist organization, and took nine into custody—including prominent Turkish journalists Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener.
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