By JOEL SIMON*
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Last month, a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Press Institute met with senior Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, and Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ.
The meetings were contentious, with Erdoğan and Davutoğlu expressing displeasure with what they consider to be unfair, partisan coverage of Turkey by the domestic and international media. But we also made progress, securing commitments from the Turkish government to protect journalists under threat, reform laws incompatible with free expression, and allow an independent review of the seven remaining cases of journalists imprisoned for their work in Turkey.
Last week we followed up, sending detailed letters to the officials with whom we met. These letters summarize the discussion, reiterate specific commitments, and call on senior officials to take additional steps to safeguard press freedom. You can read the letters to Davutoğlu and Bozdağ here.
One concern we raised in the meetings was Turkey’s record of imprisoning journalists. Bozdağ made the point that the seven journalists who remain in prison have either been charged or convicted of serious crimes. We noted that journalists are not above the law, but pointed out that many of the 50 plus journalists who were jailed at the height of the crackdown in 2012 and have now been released faced similarly serious charges.
Our point is that journalists imprisoned in Turkey have not been given the due process to which they are legally entitled. This is why we believe the Justice Minster’s offer to make the legal files available for independent review was a constructive response to our criticism.
I would contrast this with Erdoğan’s response, which was to publicly criticize CPJ and IPI in a speech on November 2, where he described our efforts to ensure due process as part of a campaign of “psychological war against Turkey in the western media, based on complete lies.”
These kinds of outbursts by the president raise the temperature rather than lower it. Perhaps this is the point, but Turkish and international journalists feel they are locked in an adversarial battle with the senior officials. The level of confrontation does not benefit the exercise of independent journalism or Turkish democracy. This is why in our letter to the president [see below] we urge him to make a public statement in support of press freedom, something that he pointedly declined to do during our meeting.
Our letter to Erdoğan is unusually frank, but we mean no disrespect. In fact, we appreciate the candor and directness with which the president spoke to our delegation since it gave us a deeper and more nuanced understanding of his views on the media. The president emphasized in our meeting that he appreciates and values constructive criticism. Our letter is offered in that spirit.
*Joel Simon is the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. He has written widely on media issues, contributing to Slate, Columbia Journalism Review, The New York Review of Books, World Policy Journal, Asahi Shimbun, and The Times of India. He has led numerous international missions to advance press freedom. His book, The New Censorship: Inside the Global Battle for Media Freedom, will be released November 11, 2014. Follow him on Twitter @Joelcpj. His public GPG encryption key can be found here.
Letter to President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
November 4, 2014
H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
President of the Republic of Turkey
T.C. Cumhurbaşkanlığı Genel Sekreterliği
06689 Çankaya, Ankara
Turkey
Via Facsimile: +90 312 470 13 16
Via Email: cumhurbaskanligi@tccb.gov.tr
Via the Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Dear President Erdogan,
We are writing to thank you for taking the time to meet with us on October 2 and to follow up on the meeting, which helped us gain a better understanding of your perspective of the media environment in Turkey. We appreciated the opportunity to discuss our concerns directly with you and would like to respond to some of the issues that were raised in the meeting.
Our delegation also had the opportunity to meet with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ. We are writing to them separately.
While we appreciated your openness and candor in that meeting, we are disappointed that you did not make a general statement in support of press freedom and the work of journalists in Turkey. We believe that such a statement is essential and could go a long way in improving the relationship between the government and media. Journalists in Turkey operate in an environment of uncertainty, hostility, and pressure, according to many journalists with whom we spoke during our visit to Istanbul. Many face legal action, including libel claims brought by high officials.
It is the role of the press to provide a critical perspective, to hold public officials accountable, and to expose wrongdoing, corruption, and abuse of power. And while journalists who engage in such activities inevitably come into conflict with officials, they should have the principled support of the country’s leaders, who understand that such reporting advances the long-term strategic interests of Turkey and strengthens its democracy.
During our meeting, Mr. President, you made a distinction between insult and critical reporting. When asked to clarify the difference, you suggested that “Turks understand the difference” between critical reporting, which you said you welcome, and insult, which you said you abhor. You said that it was up to the judiciary to determine where the line should be drawn.
With all due deference, Mr. President, this is not a workable arrangement nor one that conforms to international standards. In fact, government officials, who voluntarily chose to enter public life, must withstand both criticism and insult in order to ensure a free and open public debate.
And while it is understandable that you would defend yourself against criticism in the media, we have been troubled that some have interpreted your criticism of individual journalists as license to attack and vilify them on social media and in the press. In some instances, these campaigns of harassment, which appear to be coordinated and orchestrated, have resulted in death threats.
While we appreciate your concern that the Internet can be used by militant groups like ISIS to recruit followers, we found your comment that you are “increasingly against the Internet” to be troubling. Narrow, legally proscribed measures to limit the online recruitment by terrorist organizations may well be an appropriate response to the current challenges, but the Turkish government has taken far-ranging actions to restrict critical speech online. Earlier this year, authorities blocked Twitter and YouTube for extended periods of time, and Parliament approved a restrictive Internet bill that allows for the quick blocking of websites and individual URLs the government deems harmful.
Wholesale censorship of online speech is not compatible with Turkey’s democracy, and any attempt to restrict the free flow of information undermines investor confidence.
Finally, while we recognize and applaud the release of dozens of jailed journalists in Turkey, we are concerned about the seven who remain in prison. We had the opportunity to discuss this issue at length with Justice Minister Bozdağ, and we will follow up directly in our letter to him.
In order to help strengthen press freedom and democracy in Turkey, we ask that as president and head of state, you consider the following actions:
- Make a positive statement in support of press freedom and rights of journalists in Turkey.
- Refrain from pursuing any legal action against the press during the period in which you serve as head of state. In many democratic societies, political leaders are prohibited from pursuing private legal action while in office.
- Make clear to anyone who might interpret your criticism of the media or individual journalists that such statements are not license to attack or vilify them. Be cognizant of the ways in which your statements made by you could be misinterpreted.
- Help ensure that journalists are able to carry out their critical function without interference, harassment, or imprisonment.
By addressing these concerns, you can help ensure that that Turkey’s reputation as a regional leader is strengthened.
Mr. President, we once again thank you for taking the time to meet with our delegation and for speaking to us with such candor and openness. Please accept that we are responding with similar candor, recognizing the nature of the relationship that we have established. We consider this letter to be the beginning of what we hope will be an ongoing dialogue.
We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Joel Simon
CPJ Executive Director
CC List:
Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkey’s Prime Minister
Bekir Bozdağ, Turkey’s Justice Minister
Lutfullah Göktas, Chief Media Advisor to the President of Turkey
Mustafa Varank, Chief Advisor to the President of Turkey
Serdar Kılıç, Turkey’s Ambassador to the United States
Sandra Mims Rowe, Chairman of the Board, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Anne Garrels, CPJ board member
David Schlesinger, CPJ board member
Jacob Weisberg, CPJ board member
Andrew Alexander, CPJ board member
Steven Isenberg, CPJ board member
Mhamed Krichen, CPJ board member
Nina Ognianova, CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator
Alison Bethel McKenzie, Executive Director of the International Press Institute