The release last month of Turkish-Kurdish journalist Idris Sayılğan, after more than 1,000 days in prison, was a joyous moment. But the timing of the release raises – once more – questions about political influence over Turkey’s judiciary, coming just as the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is examining Sayilgan’s case in what could […]

On November 28, an International Press Institute (IPI) delegation spent a day in Istanbul’s Justice Palace to monitor four different journalists’ trials. The cases reflected the breadth of Turkey’s ongoing crackdown on the press. Trial in absentia Our first court hearing was due to start at 9.05 against Can Dündar, former editor of the secular […]

• Over 120 journalists remain in jail in Turkey • Over 100 terror-related investigations opened since Turkey’s incursion into Syria • Fair trial principles routinely breached • New efforts to stifle online media • Is the judicial reform strategy a sham or an opportunity? The International Press Institute (IPI) recently led a press freedom mission to […]

The International Press Institute (IPI) today welcomed the acquittal on all charges of leading Turkey journalist and IPI Executive Board member Kadri Gürsel after three years of arbitrary judicial harassment. However, IPI condemned yesterday’s decision by the same court to confirm the sentences of 12 of Gürsel’s co-defendants in the Cumhuriyet trial in defiance of […]