A letter to the Economist on Turkey

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

Subject: A letter to the Economist on Turkey's Oppressed Media

n, 25 Sep 1995 03:54:57 -0800


The Economist, September 2nd-8th 1995, page 8

Turkey's Oppressed Media

Sir-Turkey's reform of its 1982 constitution does not go nearly far
enough towards lifting restrictions on civil liberties ("Progress at
last", July 29th). Press freedom and freedom of speech are daily
casualties of the "notoriously illiberal" Article 8 of the 1991
anti-terrorism law to which you refer.

Tansu Ciller, Turkey's prime minister, has reneged on repeated promises
to ammend this law, which has been used to jail hundreds of journalists,
writers and publishers, and to close dozens of publications. Coverage of
the conflict with the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) that diverges from the
army's version of events is labelled "separatist propaganda" and routinely
banned. As independent journalists are thrown in jail, Turkey's press and
society are growing increasingly polarised.

The European Union should examine Turkey's record on press freedom very
closely. Otherwise it will find that it has rushed into a customs union
with a country that holds more journalist in prison than any other,
including China.

Avner Gidron
Committee to Protect Journalists
New York

[Sent to TRKNWS-L by Omer Dogan <dogano at PEAK.ORG>]

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