U.S. ACCUSES TURKEY OVER MEDIA FREEDOM
Reuters
Feb 26 2009
UK
* Journalists fear reprisals if criticise govt
* Media group in row over govt graft allegations
* Media freedoms rise as part of EU membership drive
ANKARA, Feb 26 (Reuters) – The United States accused Turkey of
limiting freedom of expression in its annual human rights report and
said journalists feared reprisals if they criticised Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan’s government.
The report, published on Thursday in Washington, comes amid an
escalating row between Turkey’s largest media company Dogan Yayin
(DYHOL.IS) and the government.
Last week, Dogan Yayin was fined nearly $500 million in penalties
and back-taxes following an investigation by tax authorities, which
Turkey’s leading press association said was aimed at silencing
critical reporting.
Erdogan has sharply criticised Dogan, which owns top selling dailies
Hurriyet, a news agency and broadcasters, and has called on supporters
not to buy the group’s newspapers after they ran stories alleging
government corruption.
"Several large holding companies which owned news agencies in the
country were concerned over losing business opportunities if their
journalists wrote articles critical of the government," the State
Department report said without naming any group.
"Senior government officials, including Prime Minister Erdogan, made
statements during the year strongly criticizing the press and media
business figures, particularly following the publishing of reports
on alleged corruption in entities in Germany connected to the ruling
party," it said.
Dogan Yayin, which controls almost half of Turkey’s print and
broadcasting media, reported on a trial in Germany last year involving
an Islamic charity accused of embezzling donations and sending funds
to a Turkish pro-government media outlet.
Erdogan has denied the graft allegations and the Finance Ministry
has said the Dogan fine was the result of a routine tax inspection
and was not politically motivated.
As part of negotiations to join the European Union, Ankara has expanded
free speech and eased restrictions on the media, including amending
a penal code article which punished Turks for "insulting Turkishness".
The article was changed, replacing "Turkishness" with "the Turkish
nation", but the State Department report noted that restrictions
still existed despite the amendment, particularly over the sensitive
subjects of mass killings of Armenians during World War One and
minority ethnic Kurds.
The report also found evidence of curbs on the Internet.
Hundreds of internet websites, including the popular YouTube, have
been blocked in Turkey. The majority of sites in Turkey closed by
court order are due to allegations sites encourage suicide, child
pornography, help users access drugs, promote prostitution or insult
the founder of modern Turkey. (Editing by Jon Boyle)