The Paris-based international media watchdog organization has announced its eighth annual report on press freedom. Ranked 102nd in 2008, Turkey fell to 122nd place this year, signaling a worsening in the situation of the press in Turkey.
Reporters Without Borders said judges, soldiers and police have all made use of Article 301 of the criminal code, which prohibits insulting the “Turkish identity,” with prison sentences of up to three years, to put journalists under enormous pressure. “Amendments [regarding Article 301] adopted by Parliament in April 2008 have not produced any noticeable improvement,” the report said. Speaking to Today's Zaman, Ahmet Abakay, head of the Contemporary Journalists' Association (ÇGD), said adjustments to Article 301, had, in fact, alleviated the situation of freedom of speech. According to the new Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), people accused of breaching this article will only be prosecuted after the approval of the Turkish president.
The organization said there are also other “weapons” restricting press freedom such as damaging the memory of Atatürk (Law 5816 of July 25, 1951) or turning people against military service (Article 318). The report said the penalties increase if the media commits the offense. Considering the pressure upon several newspapers, the report also said the Taraf daily faced legal proceedings after publishing a series of articles in October 2008, based on military documents, claiming that the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) knew in advance that Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists were crossing mountains in northern Iraq and heading toward the Turkish border, one month before they launched an attack on the Aktütün military outpost in which 17 soldiers were killed. The report also expressed concerns about Internet usage and blogging with a score of Web sites being blocked in Turkey after legal rulings during 2008, including YouTube, Dailymotion and Google Groups. Most frequently, the Web sites are made inaccessible under Law 5651 relating to “preventing crimes in the computer domain.” This law allows prosecutors to ban access to a site within 24 hours if they consider its content “likely to incite suicide, pedophilia, drug use, obscenity or prostitution” or “rejection of the law of Atatürk.”
Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a prominent Turkish lawyer, told Today's Zaman that it is shameful for a country such as Turkey, which has a European Union membership bid, to restrict Youtube. “The biggest problem is about the judicial ideology in Turkey. When they see there is something that may harm the Turkish state, they censor it. The Ergenekon mindset also plays a crucial role in intimidating journalists in this country,” Cengiz said.
“There are over 40 press freedom-restricting articles in the TCK. There is indeed a very big concern in Turkey with respect to the freedom of expression. I do not think the report overestimated and exaggerated Turkey's position,” Cengiz said.
Abakay also thinks the country deserves its ranking as press freedom is deteriorating quickly in Turkey. “I think Turkey's ranking should be even worse. We are going through such a process where journalists are intimated, newspapers are closed. Under the excuse of the fight against terrorism or terrorist organization propaganda, there are many pressures on the media,” Abakay stated.
Noting that there are also financial pressures on papers, Abakay said: “I think this situation warns us about the press situation. It is a warning that we need to fix this problem. The government needs to take several steps to better this country's situation.”
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