FREEDOM OF THOUGHT PRIZE AWARDED TO TURKISH JOURNALISTS

International Journalist’s Network
March 9 2006

Two Turkish journalists working in Belgium were recently honored for
more than 30 years of covering human rights in their home country.

The Human Rights Association of Turkey gave the 2006 Ayse Zarakolu
Freedom of Thought Prize to Dogan Ozguden and Inci Tugsavul. The two
journalists founded Info-Turk, an NGO that reports on issues that
are controversial in Turkey, such as anti-Semitism and the Armenian
Genocide. They are subject to arrest in their home country, for alleged
“crimes of opinion” and insults to “Turkishness.”

The association announced the award at the general meeting of the
International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), which took place
February 19 to 24 in Brussels.

The Freedom of Thought Prize is named for Turkish publisher and human
rights advocate Ayse Nur Zarakolu, who once said “the place to debate
our history is in books, not in the courts.”

Despite some reforms in recent years, Turkish law still allows
authorities to prosecute and jail journalists for their work.