Professional journalism? Not in Turkey!

Blue murder is being cried over the lack of press freedom in Turkey. You never hear about the other side of the medal: journalists give themselves too many freedoms. Journalist Banu Güven (photo): ‘Extreme language and polarization sell.’

There is a huge red board in the hallway at Hürriyet, one of the biggest papers in Turkey: Our Basic Principles …

Thousands of Turks protest for internet freedom

ISTANBUL –Tens of thousands of people have protested in several Turkish cities against censorship on the internet. The turnout was particularly high in Turkey’s biggest city Istanbul and in the western coastal city of Izmir.

In Istanbul at least 15,000 people turned out, especially young people up to about age 35. The protests were aimed against internet censorship in general, but …

Demonstration for press freedom in Turkey

ISTANBUL – Several thousand people demonstrated for press freedom on Sunday in the Turkish city of Istanbul. Since two prominent journalists were arrested last week for alleged involvement in plans to topple the AKP government, solidarity among Turkish journalists is on the rise.

The demand for press freedom was reinforced by carrying portraits of arrested journalists. So far 68 journalists are …

Row about Dutch ‘infidel’ in Turkish soap

ISTANBUL – Her beauty is dazzling, but she’s not particularly loved, Dutch Caroline in the Turkish soap opera ‘How time flies’. She is the forbidden love of a man from a middle class family and is referred to again and again as ‘gavur’, meaning infidel. A Turkish government commission has now warned the writers of the series about this ‘discrimination’, …

‘It’s hard in Europe, but even harder in Afghanistan’

More and more illegal  regufeesare trying to reach the European Union via Turkey. They secretly cross the border with Greece. Europe is doing its very best to stop the immigrants.

All of a sudden it gets noisy on the inside square of the ‘detention centre’ for immigrants in Greece. About fifty young men are allowed to leave the centre today and …

Dutch Zeynep Killi (53) sues Turkish generals

Thirty years ago, after the military coup in Turkey, Dutch-Turkish Zeynep Killi (53) was locked up in the infamous Diyarbakir jail. Because of a change in the constitution the coup plotters can now be prosecuted. Killi took her chance and travelled to Diyarbakir.

ISTANBUL – Whispering among each other the inmates talked about who, if they ever got the opportunity, would …

Murdered journalist Dink wins court case

ISTANBUL – The European Court for Human Rights has ruled in favour of the (murdered) Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and his family. Dink filed the case almost four years ago. The Turkish state didn’t do enough to protect Dink’s life and didn’t respect Dink’s freedom of expression. The news appeared in several Turkish media outlets on Monday.

Sources say the verdict …

Turkish writer convicted because of his characters

ISTANBUL – The Turkish writer Mehmet Güler was sentenced to fifteen months imprisonment because characters in his book allegedly made propaganda for the PKK. This story appears in the Thursday edition of Hürriyet.

Güler’s book ‘Decision harder than death’ was published last year but was soon withdrawn from the market on charges of propaganda for a terrorist organisation. The book is …

Life imprisonment for torture in Turkey

ISTANBUL – Four prison guards, one of them a warden,  have been sentenced to life time imprisonment in Turkey for the torture of an inmate in 2008. The victim, at the time 29 year old leftist activist Engin Ceber, died of the injuries. This is according to reports in several Turkish newspapers on Wednesday.

The case caused quite a fuss at …

Turkish aid organisation IHH linked to extremism

ISTANBUL – The Turkish organisation IHH (Foundation for Humanitarian Relief), which organized one of the ships in the aid convoy to Gaza, and which was attacked by Israel today,  has two faces: aid organisation and friend of extremists. In Turkey it is mainly supported by conservative Muslims.

IHH, founded in 1992, is one of the biggest and best known aid organisations …