May 3 World Press Freedom Day: Our Press Release

19 journalists who came together under the umbrella of the International Journalists Association (IJA) shared a joint press release on social media on May 3, World Press Freedom Day.

The full text of our press release:

While world is struggling with the epidemic, Turkey continues to be the world’s largest journalist prison.
In the amnesty regulation recently released due to the epidemic, political prisoners and journalists were excluded.
Additional arrangements were made in the Parliament at midnight so that journalists detained outside the scope of the Anti-Terrorism Act couldn’t benefit as well.
The Turkish judiciary does not evacuate 20 journalists, who have been detained since 2016 and who have to complete the sentence and be released under probation.
Since the Supreme Court still has not written the reasoned decision regarding journalists who have been in prison for 4 years, 20 journalists are not released despite their sentences have ended.
The Ministry of Justice is trying to reduce the number of imprisoned journalists by deceiving.
Other than the well-known journalists, imprisoned journalists working in Anadolu Agency and TRT (Turkish Radio Television) are put into the status of officers and are excluded from statistics.
The figures regarding the number of journalists detained at the local level media institutions such as Zaman and Cihan News Agency are unknown.
Journalists who are in the Covid 19 risk group due to their age and diseases, such as 70-year-old Ahmet Altan and cancer-treated Mevlüt Öztaş, are still being held in spite of all objections.
Turkey’s rank declined 110 in the Democracy Index, Press Freedom Index 154 in 2020 in the case of countries where most journalists imprisoned.
Covered by decree laws issued by only one person, without relying on a court decision; No concrete steps are taken regarding the opening of 53 Newspapers, 34 Television Channels, 37 Radio Stations, 20 Magazines, 6 News Agencies, 29 Publishing Houses and the return of their seized assets.
Access bans on digital broadcasting continue exponentially.
2020 UN Universal Periodic Review Mechanism (EP I) prepared as part of Turkey’s Report and Recommendation in October 2019 to open Access to 288 thousand 310 websites, according to the report.
Access barriers were brought to nearly 40 thousand sites in 2019 alone. In particular, 7 thousand 334 news links related to human rights violations and corruption were also blocked.
There are heavy bans on social media, the last way the public uses to get the right information.
Preparation for a legal arrangement that would bring censorship to social media and close it all was announced by the ruling party itself.
Thousands of Twitter account blocked in Turkey, with commercial concerns of platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to cooperate with the Turkish government is causing an increase in the dose of censorship.
Unemployed released, arrested, attacked the presence of journalists, censorship and intense and widespread shutdowns has already destroyed the freedom of the press in Turkey.
On May 3, World Press Freedom Day, we call the Turkish Government; to release journalists detained, especially those in the risk group due to the outbreak; we call for an end to the pressures on the media.