The International Press Institute (IPI) today condemned Turkey’s arrest of two prominent journalists and an academic, including the local representative of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), on accusations that they supported terrorism by standing in solidarity with a pro-Kurdish newspaper. A judge in Istanbul ordered the arrests of RSF representative Erol Önderoğlu, Ahmet Nesin and [...]
On the first day of the IPI World Congress in Doha, Qatar, the International Press Institute honoured Iranian journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi and the independent Turkish news platform Medyascope.tv as its 68th World Press Freedom Hero and 2016 Free Media Pioneer, respectively.
The International Press Institute (IPI) today condemned the attempted assassination of a Syrian media activist operating in Turkey and renewed its calls on Turkey’s government to end a spate of violent attacks on journalists and media activists claimed by the Islamic State group. Unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle shot Ahmed Abdul-Qadir, founder of Syrian [...]
The International Press Institute (IPI) and leading media freedom and free expression watchdogs have brought the ongoing deterioration of free expression in Turkey before the U.N. Human Rights Council, urging it to press Turkey’s government to end a state of “major repression”. IPI joined PEN International, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Danish PEN, [...]
The International Press Institute (IPI) today condemned the attempted shooting of Turkish journalist Can Dündar today outside the courthouse where he was expected to hear the verdict in a criminal case over reports claiming that Turkey’s intelligence agency secretly armed Islamist rebel groups in Syria. Dündar, editor-in-chief of daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, escaped unharmed when [...]
The International Press Institute (IPI) today joined observers around the world in condemning the two-year prison sentence handed to two journalists who republished the cover of satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo featuring an image of the Prophet Muhammad. An Istanbul court convicted daily Cumhuriyet journalists Ceyda Karan and Hikmet Çetinkaya of “openly encouraging hate [...]
The German government today gave the green light for prosecutors to open a criminal investigation into popular satirist Jan Böhmermann over a vulgar poem ridiculing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in granting a request by the Turkish government, underscored that Germany viewed the deteriorating situation of press freedom in Turkey [...]
Turkey’s government must do more to end a series of murders of Syrian journalists who have fled to the country, the International Press Institute (IPI) said today after a fourth journalist was killed in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. Halab Today TV presenter Mohammed Zahir al-Sherqat died on Tuesday from injuries [...]
German politicians of all stripes are suddenly calling for the abolition of a seldom-used provision in Germany’s Criminal Code that punishes insulting foreign heads of state with up to five years in prison. That’s welcome news for press freedom and freedom of expression. The provision in question, Art. 103, is a relic of the [...]
Pressure on Turkey’s media has become so intense that even online outlets, regarded by many observers as the last remaining space for free expression, now face an existential threat. In its 2015 special report on Turkey, “Democracy at Risk”, the International Press Institute (IPI) observed that “given the amount of pressure brought to bear [...]