“Jailed journalists, threshold for collective bargaining, no freelancers rights, refusals of press cards, restrictions of accreditation, growing prosecutions, less freedom to publish.” This bleak picture will be at the heart of an upcoming conference on press freedom and labor rights in Turkey, titled “Turkey: Fighting for journalists rights and freedoms in a politically polarized country”…
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) are jointly calling the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to immediately lift all the bans against news organisation, protect press freedom (including journalists’ work places) and release all journalists being detained. According to media reports, the Turkish Telecommunications Authority (TIB) has geographically…
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have today backed their affiliate in Great Britain and Ireland, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), in urging the Turkish authorities to immediately release British journalists Jake Hanrahan and Philip Pendlebury. The reporters, who work for US-based media outlet Vice News, were…
A black curtain has been preventing the public from receiving news since certain media outlets’ websites have had all access to their sites from within Turkey blocked since July 25, just as the cease-fire between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) ended and the country enters a war against radical terrorist group the Islamic…
(Brussels, 05.08.2015) The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) have demanded Turkey to drop immediately the “terrorism charges” against 18 journalists who could face 7.5 years in prison for publishing a photo. Following a series of crackdown on online media during the past weeks in Turkey, the chief prosecutors’…
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have today expressed deep concerns about the violence used against journalists and media workers covering labour issues in Turkey. “International standards like freedom of association, right to collective bargaining and right to strike must be respected by all parties and journalists who…
On Sunday (28/06/2015), the police in Istanbul used tear gas and water cannon to disperse LGBTi Pride Parade peaceful participants before even the beginning of the demonstration. Journalists and press photographers have prevented by the police from doing their job. The 13th edition of the Istanbul LGBTi Pride Parade was authorised and scheduled to start…
Pressure against journalists and media workers was already alarming before the elections in Turkey and unfortunately the situation isn’t cooling down after the elections. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have today (11/06/2015) learned that several attacks on physical integrity of journalists in Diyarbakir have taken place in…
The Freedom for Journalists Plaftorm (GÖP), including the Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS) the EFJ-IFJ affiliate, calls on Turkish authorities to end pressure on media and journalists that prevent the public from accessing information. Yesterday (31/05/2015), police forces in Istanbul attacked again reporters for covering a public protest commemorating the second anniversary of the Gezi…
According to several media reports, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has urged the Communications Ministry to hamper all media communications linked to the Gülen movement by withdrawing state means used to facilitate the broadcasts. If executed, the general request will lead to forbid specific opposition TV channels to use satellite infrastructure controlled by the…
The Platform for Independent Journalism (P24) held an event on World Press Freedom Day at the Swedish Consulate in Istanbul during which they premiered the first screening of “Persona Non Grata” a 41-minute documentary illustrating the difficult position many Turkish journalists have fallen into with the increasing oppression of the media. The documentary, directed by…
Journalists march on Istiklal Street in downtown Istanbul on World Press Freedom Day to call for a free media on the World Press Freedom Day. Journalists in Turkey marked World Press Freedom Day on Sunday under a cloud of diminishing press freedom in Turkey amid growing threats to their profession as they face unprecedented and…
Press unions and associations have strongly criticized Turkish prosecutors for seeking excessive prison sentences for two columnists, Ceyda Karan and Hikmet Çetinkaya, who write for the Cumhuriyet daily, for their articles that featured the front cover of the French Charlie Hebdo magazine depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office had launched a…
Access to major social media outlets – Twitter, Facebook and YouTube – were blocked on Monday via a court order issued over the extensive sharing last week of photographs of a terrorist holding a gun to the head of an İstanbul prosecutor hours before the prosecutor was killed. Twitter was reopened to access on Monday…
The secretary-general of the Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS), Mustafa Kuleli, has said that since the corruption probe that incriminated government ministers and businessmen went public in 2013, more than 100 lawsuits have been filed against 60 journalists, as part of the government’s increasing intimidation of reporters. In his meeting with EU Commissioner for European…
Board members of the Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS), together with the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), organized this weekend (21-22 March 2015) in Istanbul the union’s third Strategic and Development workshop in a year. This was an opportunity for the new board (elected at the TGS Congress…
In a meeting with delegates of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) on Friday 20 March 2015, the EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Mr. Johannes Hahn, has called for more progress made on press freedom in the West Balkans and Turkey. Commissioner Hahn expressed his concerns about media freedom in West Balkans…
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) last week sent journalist Barry White (NUJ UK) to observe the new press trials in Turkey, 29 – 31 January. Barry White, also a member of the EFJ Steering Committee, was joined by Mustafa Kuleli (General Secretary of the Journalists Union of…
Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS) and Journalists Association of Turkey (TGC) have condemned the detention of journalists in a police operation on Sunday while describing the development as an open attack on media freedom in the country. Zaman Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı, Samanyolu TV network executive Hidayet Karaca and a number of other journalists, columnists, scriptwriters…
Some 53 delegates from 26 countries representing trade union organsations and professional associations of journalists at the Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) in Moscow on 21 November expressed their solidarity and full support for ethical journalism and the struggle of Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) to defend independent journalism and the…