Turkey ranks 149th among 180 countries in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index; 3 journalists briefly arrested in Labor Day demonstrations; appellate court upholds convictions handed in Hrant Dink trial

Journalists arrested, prevented from covering demonstrations on Labor Day

Gazete Yolculuk reporter Buse Söğütlü, Mezopatamya Agency reporter Doğan Kaynak and Jinnews reporter Rozerin Gültekin were briefly arrested while reporting on demonstrators who attempted to take to İstanbul’s Taksim Square on Labor Day. Söğütlü was taken to a police station; she was released late at night after giving her statement to the police. Kaynak and Gültekin, on the other hand, were taken to a police vehicle, where they were briefly held before they were released.

Independent journalist Derya Doğan was also obstructed by police while covering the protests in Taksim. In separate Twitter posts, Söğütlü and Doğan announced that the security forces did not accept the press cards they obtained from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

In addition, police intervened against scores of journalists while covering the protests in İstanbul’s Beşiktaş and Mecidiyeköy districts, as well as Halaskargazi avenue.

RSF: Press freedom situation in Turkey “difficult”

Turkey ranks 149th out of 180 countries on the 2022 World Press Freedom Index, published on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day, by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Nordic countries Norway, Denmark and Sweden topped the 2022 edition of the World Press Freedom Index, which ranked the press freedom situation as “good” in eight countries; “satisfactory” in 40 countries; “problematic” in 62 countries; “difficult” in 40 countries, including Turkey, and “very serious” in 28 countries.

The 20th RSF Index, which assesses the state of journalism in 180 countries and territories, saw Turkey move up four places in this year’s ranking, ahead of last year’s 153rd. “The ‘hyper-presidency’ of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his authoritarianism are accompanied by a denial of freedom of the press and interference in the judicial system. Even if the courts tend to imprison when Erdogan demands it, some judges have recently come out against ‘this repression that goes too far’: journalists have been acquitted of abusive charges such as ‘insulting the president’, ‘belonging to a terrorist organisation’, or ‘propaganda’. Judicial review now takes precedence over the imprisonment of journalists,” the index said about Turkey. 

European Parliament: Kavala conviction shuts the door on Turkey’s EU accession

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the case of Osman Kavala, jailed businessperson and human rights defender, noting that the Turkish government’s refusal to implement the legally binding judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the Kavala case brought Turkey’s EU accession process to a dead end.

The motion for resolution, “The case of Osman Kavala in Turkey,” was put to vote in plenary on 5 May in Strasbourg, after an evening debate on 4 May, and was adopted by a simple majority. It was a joint motion tabled by the Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats, the Liberals, the Greens and the Left group in the Parliament. The text read, “...with the decision to openly defy the binding rulings of the ECtHR on the case of Osman Kavala and others, the current Turkish Government has deliberately destroyed any hopes of reopening its EU accession process or opening new chapters and closing open ones under the current circumstances.”

The resolution condemned the 25 April 2022 ruling by the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court imposing an aggravated life imprisonment on Osman Kavala after more than four and a half years of “unjust, unlawful and illegitimate” detention, and asserted that Kavala was convicted “on unjustified charges, for the ulterior purpose of silencing him as a human rights defender.”

The Parliament called for Kavala’s “immediate and unconditional release” in compliance with the 2019 judgment of the ECtHR, and for all charges against him to be dropped immediately, as well as for the immediate release of the other seven defendants in the case. 

The European Parliament called on the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to “take the necessary steps” to ensure that Turkey implements the ECtHR judgment without further delay. The resolution noted that the Parliament was deeply concerned about the “ongoing deterioration” of fundamental rights and freedoms and the rule of law in Turkey, especially after the failed coup attempt of 2016, and called on Turkish authorities to “end the judicial harassment of human rights defenders, academics, journalists, spiritual leaders and lawyers.” The resolution also stressed that Osman Kavala and other Turkish citizens in similar situations could be granted “political asylum inside the EU if necessary.”

Regional appeals court upholds convictions in the Dink trial

The 2nd Criminal Chamber of the İstanbul Regional Court of Justice rejected the appeals filed by both the Dink family and the defendants in the Hrant Dink murder trial. Dink, the former editor-in-chief of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly newspaper Agos, was assassinated on 19 January 2007 in front of the newspaper’s offices in İstanbul.

In a unanimous decision rendered on 28 April 2022, the appellate court ordered a retrial for some of the defendants on various charges such as "counterfeiting official documents” with regard to the re-evaluation of evidence. Accordingly, defendants Abdullah Dinç and Ahmet Faruk Aydoğdu will stand trial for “membership in a terrorist organization”; former civil inspector Mehmet Ali Özkılınç will be prosecuted for “protecting an offender”;  former intelligence officers Faruk Sarı, Hasan Durmuşoğlu, Mehmet Ayhan, Mehmet Uçar, Onur Karakaya and Ali Fuat Yılmazer will be tried for “damaging, destroying or concealing an official document”; Ramazan Akyürek, a former head of police intelligence, will face the charges of “counterfeiting official documents by a public official” and “damaging, destroying or concealing an official document.”

The court dismissed the appeal brought by the lawyers for the Dink family, requesting the court to overturn the acquittals of the defendants, who were high level intelligence and security officials at the time, including former İstanbul police chief Celalettin Cerrah; former intelligence chief Ahmet İlhan Güler; former police chief Reşat Altay; former intelligence chief Engin Dinç; former intelligence officers Ercan Demir and Muhittin Zenit; former intelligence chief Sabri Uzun, and former gendarmerie intelligence officer Metin Yıldız. Hakan Bakırcıoğlu, a lawyer for the Dink family, stated that they would appeal against the court’s judgment.

The Dink trial was concluded on 26 March 2021 at the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court. Former police chiefs Ali Fuat Yılmazer and Ramazan Akyürek were given aggravated life imprisonment for “intentional killing” at the end of the trial of 78 defendants, which saw a total of 26 defendants handed down various sentences in connection with the Dink murder and 37 defendants acquitted of all charges. The court separated the file against 13 defendants at large, while dropping the charges against others.

54 journalists and media workers in prison

As of 6 May 2022, at least 54 journalists and media workers are in prison in Turkey, either in pre-trial detention or serving a sentence.

The full list can be accessed here.