After a break of two years, Turkey once again has become “world’s biggest journalist-prison” and ranked low in press freedom and transparency on international indices. The State of Emergency (OHAL) declared following the coup attempt on July 15, and the Statutory Decrees (KHK) issued within the State of Emergency have brought various unlawful and excessive practices like closures, detentions and arrests among members of the Gülen Community and the Kurdish Media. Click to see the infographic The Government has often been criticized for “becoming distant from its goals of democracy” and “using the State of Emergency to speed up its…

Ninety journalists are currently in jail in Turkey for doing their job. Critical voices must not be silenced!  Today, on Friday 21, world journalists will sponsor journalists in jail in Turkey in a show of solidarity. Take action! How? Pick the name of a journalist jailed in Turkey from the list below, add the name of the journalist on an A4 paper, take a picture of yourself holding the sign and post it on social media #FreeThemAll Sign the petition. It will automatically send an email to President Erdogan via his spokesperson   This work can be done anytime throughout the…

We, the undersigned organisations, recognise that the Turkish government has the right and responsibility to investigate the violent events of the July 2016 coup attempt and to bring all those responsible to justice.  We also recognise that the immediate aftermath of the attempted coup is the type of exceptional circumstance in which a government could legitimately invoke a state of emergency but still has to comply with their human rights obligations. We are however increasingly concerned that the far-reaching, almost unlimited discretionary powers exercised by the Turkish authorities during the first three months of the state of emergency – now…

The EFJ newsletter, EFJ Focus, is available in English and German.   EDITORIAL The situation for journalists in Turkey has worsened during this summer and after the coup attempt on July 15. Journalists were targeted during that day. One of them, Mustafa Cambaz, paid the highest prize with his life. After the coup attempt, journalists were detained, media outlets were shut down and fear were spreading. I made contact with Thorbjørn Jagland, the General Secretary of the Council of Europe, to call for an urgent meeting with partners of the Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists.…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is joining the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in its global solidarity action on 21 October to support journalists in Turkey and our affiliates the Journalists’ union of Turkey (TGS), the Progressive Journalists’ Association (PJA), the Association of journalists of Turkey (TGC) and DİSK Basın-İş. The action is part of the IFJ and EFJ campaign Set journalism free in Turkey that both federations have been running together since 2010. It consists of a one-day show of solidarity action where free journalists can sponsor jailed journalists in Turkey on social media. The action includes an online petition calling on…

The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ/IFJ) today organised a press briefing at the Brussels’ Press Club to protest the on-going clampdown on media in Turkey and to urge the government to lift the ban on news channels.  The Turkish government recently shut down about 20 TV and radio channels, including the Kurdish Channel Med-Nuçe based in Belgium that was removed on 3 October by Eutelsat SA, a French satellite provider, on Turkey’s request.  In Turkey, 90 journalists are in jail, more than 2,500 journalists lost their jobs and arrest warrants have been issued against hundreds of media workers…