{"id":1817,"date":"2015-11-12T09:26:54","date_gmt":"2015-11-12T09:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/?p=1817"},"modified":"2015-11-13T09:37:35","modified_gmt":"2015-11-13T09:37:35","slug":"turkey-continues-to-muzzle-democracys-watchdogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/?p=1817","title":{"rendered":"Turkey continues to muzzle democracy\u2019s watchdogs"},"content":{"rendered":"

By NOAM CHOMSKY* and CHRISTOPHE DELOIRE**
\nThe Washington Post<\/em><\/p>\n

Journalists are the \u201cwatchdogs<\/a>\u201d of democracy, according to the European Court of Human Rights. Anyone who wants to control a country without being troubled by criticism tries to muzzle reporters, and unfortunately, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a past master at stifling the cries of freedom. As journalists from around the world converge on Antalya to cover this weekend\u2019s Group of 20 summit<\/a>, many of their Turkish colleagues are being denied accreditation.<\/p>\n

Sidelining opposition media has become a bad habit in Turkey, which is ranked 149th out of 180 countries in the latest Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index<\/a>. Four days before the Nov. 1 parliamentary elections, the police stormed Ipek Media Group headquarters<\/a> and shut down its two opposition dailies and two opposition TV stations. After control of management had been secured and 71 journalists fired<\/a>, these outlets resumed operations with a new editorial line<\/a> verging on caricature. The dailies, Bugun and Millet, ran Erdogan\u2019s photo on the front page along with the headlines \u201cThe president among the people\u201d and \u201cTurkey united.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Turkish<\/a>
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Nov. 4. (Adem Altan\/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Journalism is being murdered. The fact that the AKP, the ruling party for the past 13\u2009years, recovered an absolute majority<\/a> in parliament has not sufficed to halt the oppression. Two days after the elections, two journalists were jailed<\/a> on charges of \u201cinciting an armed revolt against the state\u201d in a story. Since then, some 30 other journalists have been placed under investigation for \u201cterrorist propaganda\u201d or \u201cinsulting the president\u201d \u2014 the two most common charges.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 17, 18 editors and publishers<\/a> will go on trial for \u201cterrorist propaganda\u201d because of a photograph. They face up to 7\u00bd years in prison. One of these journalists, Cumhuriyet editor Can Dundar<\/a>, already stood accused of \u201cspying\u201d by Erdogan, who has vowed that Dundar \u201cwon\u2019t get away with it.\u201d His paper published evidence that Syria-bound trucks leased by Turkey\u2019s National Intelligence Organization had, as suspected, been carrying arms.<\/p>\n

For years, the growing concentration of media ownership in the hands of government allies has eroded pluralism and encouraged self-censorship. The authorities have also reined in the Internet. Following draconian reforms, the blocking of Web sites has become systematic. Turkey is responsible for more than two-thirds<\/a> of the requests to Twitter to remove content. The government does not hesitate to block the entire YouTube platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These practices compound problems inherited from the years of military rule: laws restricting freedom of expression, a judicial culture centered on defense of the state and impunity for police violence. The metastasizing Syrian conflict and the resumption of fighting with Kurdish rebels have accentuated governmental paranoia about critical journalists. Far from defusing political and communal tension, the accelerating censorship and aggressive government rhetoric have sharpened it. Demonstrators egged on by the government\u2019s discourse attacked<\/a> the Istanbul headquarters of the daily Hurriyet twice in early September.<\/p>\n

The G-20\u2019s leaders must take stock of the course on which their host has embarked. They need a stable Turkey to help limit the spread of the Syrian chaos and to guarantee its people\u2019s security and prosperity. The Turkish government must stop fueling tension and, for this, it is essential that the truth can be told. Reopening the space for democratic debate is essential for stabilizing the country. Freedom of information is part of the solution.<\/p>\n

\n

*Noam Chomsky is a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. <\/i><\/p>\n

**Christophe Deloire is secretary general of Reporters Without Borders.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By NOAM CHOMSKY* and CHRISTOPHE DELOIRE** The Washington Post Journalists are the \u201cwatchdogs\u201d of democracy, according to the European Court of Human Rights. Anyone who [more >>>]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1818,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey","category-turkey-human-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1817"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1819,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1817\/revisions\/1819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}