Journalists in Turkey who covered this spring’s Gezi Park protests are living in a “half-open penitentiary,” say critics, as media bosses—under pressure from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government—have sacked dozens of reporters while others face criminal prosecution.
Sixty-four journalists are currently under arrest and another 123 are facing charges of terrorism, said a report issued by the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Tuesday.
“Mr. Prime Minister has turned the country into a half-open penitentiary and made it impossible to live for journalists,” said CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu during a press briefing.
“We are experiencing a process in which […] the media bosses are under the rule of political authority and publish the news that the political authority accepts,” he added. “We have gone 105 years back in time.”
Earlier this month, Reporters Without Borders issued a statement on the Istanbul police’s targeting of journalists during recent demonstrations. “Several journalists critical of recent government policy have been fired, publications have been banned, media have been prevented from working, and many foreign journalists have been arrested and ordered to leave,” they wrote.
According to reports, 59 journalists have been removed from their positions since May 28—when the Instanbul park sit-in sparked a wave of demonstrations against the government and their authoritarian rule.
United Press International reports that 22 of those journalists were fired—a number of them simply over their Twitter commentary—and the remainder resigned in the face of the severe censorship.
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