151 media staff jailed in Turkey: Council of Europe

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) - The commissioner of the Council of Europe for human rights Nils Muiznieks revealed in a report on Wednesday that as of last month 151 media workers have been jailed in Turkey, slamming the country's authorities for shrinking press freedom.

There were also 150 media outlets, including newspapers, television stations, radios and publishing houses that the government closed and liquidated their assets, particularly after the failed summer coup attempt against the rule of the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In his memorandum on the freedom of expression and media freedom in Turkey, the Muiznieks said there was much less space for democratic debate as "judicial harassment" targeted large segments of society including journalists, lawmakers, and academics.

Muiznieks based his findings on a week-long April 2016 visit to Turkey and recent developments in the country, according to the report released on the website of the Council.

"Government's actions have reduced pluralism and led to self-censorship," Muiznieks stated.

Internet censorship was pervasive, access to the websites of pro-Kurdish blog hosting services media outlets such as Dicle News Agency (DIHA), Ozgur Gundem and Azadiya Welat were banned by authorities.

"In February 2015 Turkish courts decided to ban access to a total of 49 websites including Charlie Hebdo’s official site, as well as specific pages from popular Internet forums, which were deemed to be anti-Muslim or atheist, holding that they denigrated religious values," added Muiznieks.

Turkish authorities justify the repression of media with threats the country face, mainly terrorism blamed on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the movement of the US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen whose followers Erdogan accuses of masterminding the coup.

"There is not one single journalist in detention because they wrote a story. If there is one, I would want to know," claimed Minister for Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu during a visit last week to Spain.

President Erdogan on his part defended detention of journalists in a Wednesday interview with the Qatari newspaper Al-Arab, saying they committed crimes "under the guise of journalism," declaring the media freedom in his country to be more advanced than "most Western countries."

"Neither the attempted coup nor other terrorist threats faced by Turkey can justify measures that infringe media freedom and disavow the rule of law to such an extent," said the Council of Europe's report.

Editing by Ava Homa