IFJ 2001: 16. Media Rights in Turkey

16. Media Rights in Turkey Proposed: Türkiye Gazeteciler Sendikasi The 24th IFJ Congress, meeting in Seoul on June 11th to June 15th, 2001 noting that journalists in Turkey face various difficulties arousing from both violation the right of organizing in labor unions and of the economic and social rights, and the laws restricting freedom of expression and freedom of press, condemning the trial sued by a semi-official press company aiming to abolish the authority of Türkiye Gazeteciler Sendikasi (TGS) for collective bargaining through demanding the decrease in the number of TGS members, recognizing the fact that the trend for monopolization, emerging through the collection of ownership of media companies in the hands of a few employers, and the cartels established by those employers, eradicate the freedom of press, free distribution of publications, free employment right of journalists and the editorial independence, worrying about still existence of those laws giving opportunity to that grave situation mentioned above and not being started a serious preparation by governments in order to make required amendments taking into consideration the universal norms and the opinions of professional organisations in journalism in Turkey, calls on the Turkish government to fulfill all amendments in both constitution and laws to ensure social, economic and trade union rights of journalists and to abolish the restrictions over freedom of press and freedom of expression, and also to take all measures to prevent the security powers to apply violence over journalists following social demonstrations, calls on media owners in Turkey to respect the social, economic and trade union rights of journalists, not to intervene editorial independence, not to violate freedom of press and not to act against the ethics of journalism, calls IFJ to support Turkish journalists in his efforts on the Turkish governments and parliament to achieve the freedom of press and to obtain the social, economic and trade union rights, calls upon all member unions of IFJ to be in solidarity with TGS in his struggle against media owners in Turkey to organize journalists and to make collective bargaining.