Over 60 journalists currently in jail in Turkey must be set free immediately, says the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) ahead of a trial in Istanbul starting today.

An EFJ delegation is visiting Turkey on 22-24 November on a mission to attend the court trial of 10 journalists. Following the trial, which is today, the delegation will meet with the families of the jailed journalists on 23 November and send solidarity messages to support them. The mission will also go to Ankara to meet with members of the Turkish Parliament pressing the authorities for the immediate release of jailed journalists.

"We demand the immediate release of all journalists whose continued detention has only served to show the country's intolerance of real democratic debate," said Arne König, EFJ President. "These journalists are not put in prison because they are terrorists but only for doing their work".

Ahmet Şik and Nedim Şener have already been detained for eight months on trumped-up terrorism charges. The other eight journalists and writers, Soner Yalçın, Barış Pehlivan, Barış Terkoğlu, Müyesser Yıldız, Doğan Yurdakul, Yalçın Küçük, Sait Çakır and Coşkun Musluk are accused of putting their reporting and writing in the service of an alleged terrorist conspiracy known as Ergenekon.

"It will be interesting to see whether the investigation has enabled prosecutors to gather any evidence other than the wild accusations that came out after interrogations with the journalists," said König ahead of the trials.

At today's hearing, defence attorneys asked the presiding judge, Resul Cakir, to resign, saying that he could not be impartial because he sued one of the other defendants, Oda TV news director Barış Terkoğlu for publishing a picture of him dinning with other judges, prosecutors and police officers.  However, the court decided to forward the motion to a higher court for ruling until 26 December while the accused journalists remain in jail.  

The decision outraged the journalists' community who protested outside of the court in Istanbul, demanding the immediate release of the journalists in prison. Addressing to the protesters and the media, Philippe Leruth, the EFJ Vice-president said, "We want to express our solidarity with our detained colleagues but in the meantime express our concern for press freedom in Turkey. And press freedom is essential for democracy."

The European Federation of Journalists has already been in direct correspondence with many of the jailed journalists, following a postcard campaign launched in October.

The Freedom for Journalists Platform (GÖP) has invited the "mission to Turkey" to follow the trial of the 10 journalists in jail as the symbol of solidarity with all journalists in prison in Turkey. Together with representatives from the EFJ and its affiliate, the Türkiye Gazeteciler Sendikası (TGS - Journalists' Union of Turkey)   the International Press Institute (IPI), Reporters without Borders (RsF) and the European Association of Journalists (AEJ), joined journalists and civil society organizations including trade unions will all participate in a demonstration and press statement in front of the court building at 9.30 on 22 November before the trial (Caglayan Court).

 

Members of the mission are:
 EFJ : President Arne König and Vice President Philippe Leruth, from DJV Ramis Kılıçarslan and Monika Kabay and TGS President Ercan Ipekci; IPI: Vice President Pavol Mudry and Press Freedom Advisor in Europe and North America Steven Ellis; RSF: European Office Representative Johann Bihr and Representative in Turkey Erol Önderoğlu and  AEJ: Vice President Saia Tsaouasidou and Vice President in Turkey Doğan Tılıç.

 

For more update on the mission, please visit our campaign page HERE.

For more information, please contact the EFJ at 32 2 2352202.

The EFJ is the regional organisation in Europe of the International Federation of Journalists and represents over 260.000 journalists in 32 European countries.