On May 3, the World Press Freedom Day, the International Press Institute (IPI) Board member and Turkish National Committee Chair Kadri Gürsel marked the day with a solidarity message with his co-defendants in the Cumhuriyet trial, which was finalized in April 2018, handing ruthless jail terms to 14 journalist and executives of independent daily Cumhuriyet. [...]
International observers from the International Press Institute (IPI) and the European Parliament today observed the trial of TV10 journalist Kemal Demir and cameraman Kemal Karagöz at Istanbul’s 28th High Criminal Court in Turkey. TV10, a channel airing Alevi cultural and social programming, was shuttered by emergency decree in October 2016. Demir and Karagöz are accused [...]
The International Press Institute (IPI) together with human rights organizations: ARTICLE 19, ARTICOLO 21, Initiative for Freedom of Expression, Norwegian PEN, European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, PEN International and P24 strongly condemn the ban as part of the Turkish government’s relentless campaign to silence independent media and restrict internet freedoms in the country. We [...]
Eight defendants in the trial against Turkey’s secular Cumhuriyet newspaper face an imminent return to prison after an appeals confirmation of their jail sentences was officially communicated to Turkey’s National Judicial Informatics System. “After spending months in pre-trial detention and after being convicted in what was essentially a show trial, eight of the defendants in [...]
By MURAT SEVİNÇ / Press trials not as a purely judicial matter, but as part of an integral political problem
On April 15, 2019, the expected final hearing in a terrorism propaganda case against Turkish journalist and International Press Institute (IPI) member Erol Önderoğlu as well as Turkey’s Human Rights Foundation Chair Şebnem Korur Fincancı and journalist Ahmet Nesin will take place in Istanbul. The three defendants are charged in relation to their acting as [...]
Twenty-five international freedom of expression organizations today joined the International Press Institute (IPI) in calling for the acquittal on Monday of journalists Erol Önderoğlu and Ahmet Nesin and Human Rights Foundation chair Şebnem Korur Fincancı in Turkey. The three have been on trial accused of disseminating terrorist propaganda, among other charges, for over two-and-half years [...]
The International Press Institute (IPI) urges Turkish authorities to drop all charges against Turkish-German journalist Deniz Yücel ahead of his next hearing on April 11 in Istanbul. A correspondent for the German newspaper WELT, Yücel was held in pretrial detention in Turkey for one year between 2017 and 2018. Although he was freed and permitted [...]
The International Press Institute (IPI) today renewed its call on Turkey to drop charges against Austrian journalist Max Zirngast, whose trial on baseless terrorism charges is set to begin on April 11. Zirngast, who has written for leftist magazines such as re:volt and Jacobin, was arrested on September 11, 2018, in Ankara by anti-terror police [...]
In early March, IPI Turkey Advocacy Coordinator Caroline Stockford attended the trial in Istanbul of Fatih Polat, editor-in-chief of Evrensel, one of Turkey’s last remaining independent newspapers. Polat was acquitted of publishing a tapped telephone call – a small bit of good news in Turkey’s media crackdown. Evrensel is also one of two newspapers being [...]