Today’s Zaman, Turkey
May 3 2008

Freedom House highlights challenges for Turkish democracy

Turkey has made significant progress in democratization in the past
decade, but major challenges remain in terms of local and national
governance, the electoral process, minority rights, the strength of
civil society and press freedoms, a US-based international think tank
announced yesterday in Ä°stanbul.

The content of a report titled `Turkey in Transit,’ prepared by the
European chapter of Freedom House, an organization famous for its
ranking of countries’ levels of freedom, was shared with journalists
at a press conference on Friday morning.

Turkey has seen a `positive trend of reform’ in the past few years,
the report’s author, Nigar Göksel, said, noting that the trend
had been stalled in the years 2006 and 2007. According to the report,
increasing polarization in Turkey caused by growing tension between
the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and segments
that see the party as an Islamist threat is an obstacle on Turkey’s
path of reform. Other problems that remain as challenges to democracy
in Turkey include the executive branch of the state being too strong
vis-à-vis the legislature and judiciary, too much
centralization in public administration, problems implementing new
reforms passed in the past few years, cronyism in many institutions,
low female representation in politics, a higher rate of taxes on civil
society organizations compared to other countries and persistent
corruption, particularly in public tenders.

Göksel also noted that intolerance toward non-Muslim religious
minorities was creating concern, despite a law adopted earlier this
year that returns property seized from non-Muslim foundations by the
state. The brutal killing of three Christians in the eastern province
of Malatya last year and the shooting of a Catholic priest in 2006
made their way into the report as examples of intolerance and violence
against non-Muslims. Turkey’s overloaded and sluggish judiciary was
also cited as one of the significant obstacles to a better and sounder
democracy.

The report said the corporate structure of Turkish media, where large
conglomerates with interests in other sectors own media outlets,
raises concerns that newspapers might be `prone to try and remain on
good terms with politicians.’ The division of the media primarily
along pro and anti-government lines also poses a problem for press
freedoms, the report warned.

Yesterday’s press conference followed a report released this week by
Freedom House — ahead of May 3, World Press Freedom Day — that ranks
countries on the basis of media freedom. In this year’s report, Turkey
is the only country ranked as `Partly Free’ in Western Europe. Out of
195 countries and territories covered in the report, 72 (37 percent)
were rated `Free,’ 59 (30 percent) `Partly Free’ and 64 (33 percent)
`Not Free.’ The evaluations are based on an assessment of the legal,
political and economic environments in which journalists worked during
2007.

Turkey’s press freedom rating declined to 51 in this year’s report,
two points down from the previous year, said Balint Molnar of Freedom
House Europe. He said the continued prosecution of large numbers of
journalists under an anti-free speech penal code article and the 2007
murder of Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink had played a clear role
in the decline. Monlar added that press freedoms were declining on a
global scale.

03.05.2008

E. BARIÅ? ALTINTAÅ? Ä°STANBUL