Today
the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has hit out at the management of
state-run Anatolian Agency after reports of severe management pressure on
members of the Turkish Union of Journalists (TGS), which has driven the union's
President to threaten a hunger strike.
Ercan
Ipekci, President of the EFJ affiliate in Turkey, has announced plans to go on
hunger strike in front of the General Directorate of the state-run Anatolian
Agency from 12:00 today (Friday March 9). He says the move is in protest
against the way in which union members have been put under pressure by the
government-assigned management of the news agency to resign their membership of
the TGS.
It
is understood that the union President has been singled out by management as a
target in a campaign of intimidation intended to undermine support for the
union. Ercan Ipekci has been a leading figure in the campaign challenging the
imprisonment of more than 100 journalists in Turkey. This has resulted in him
and his union being targeted by the Turkish authorities, as proven by a recent
speech by the Turkish Prime Minister, Mr Recep Tayyip Erdo?an.
"There
have been many reports of the tactics used by the state and employers in Turkey
to intimidate union members and obstruct the ability of trade unions to
represent their members. This case has the stink of yet another example of the
intolerable pressure under which trade unionists in Turkey have to
operate," said EFJ President Arne König. "It is deeply concerning
that people feel that they have to go to such extreme measures in order to
stand up for their principles."
Attempts
to introduce collective bargaining at the Sabah newspaper were undermined in
2009 when pressure was put on trade union members to resign their membership. A
similar case happened in Olay Medya last year.
A
report published by the International Trade Union Congress in February found
that "legal protection from acts of interference [in Turkey] is weak and
sanctions for anti-union discrimination are not dissuasive. The state and the
employers make use of various anti-union practices that have weakened trade
unions' negotiating rights."
As
the trials of journalists in the so-called OdaTV case are set to resume next
Monday, 12 March, the EFJ protests against the intimidation of TGS members,
fully supports the union's President and member of the EFJ Steering Committee,
Ercan Ikpeci, and calls on the European authorities to remind the Turkish
government that press freedom and free trade unionism are essential values of
democracy.
The EFJ is the European group of the
International Federation of Journalists. It represents over 260,000
journalists in 30 countries.
For more information contact the EFJ at +32 2
235.2200