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 with […]

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 he […]

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 The provision in question, Art. 103, is a relic of the outdated […]

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 on […]