AZG Armenian Daily #055, 26/03/2007
Human Rights in Turkey
TURKEY PUNISHES AND REWARDS JOURNALISTS ACCORDING TO THEIR "LOYALTY"
Relayed from "Reporter Whithout Borders"
Leaked reports published by the Turkish media on 8 and 9 March show
that the army and the prime minister’s office punish and reward
journalists according to their "loyalty."
Leaked reports show army and government abuse accreditation system
Leaked reports by the army high command and the prime minister’s
office that were published in the Turkish press on 8 and 9 March show
that the news media are classified according to their support for
government policies and that the procedures for issuing press
accreditation are used to undermine critical newspapers and
journalists and reward those that support the armed forces, Reporters
Without Borders said today.
"We condemn this use of black-lists and these attempts to neutralize
journalists by depriving them of their raw material, information," the
press freedom organisation said. "The armed forces like to portray
themselves as the guardians of society and yet they try to gag those
journalists they consider to be troublesome. Such procedures are not
compatible with democratic principles. The Turkish should abandon such
practices aimed at influencing the media."
Reporters Without Borders said it supported the protests voiced by the
Turkish Association of Journalists (TGC), the Contemporary Association
of Journalists (CGD), the Union of Journalists of Turkey (TGS) and the
Press Council (Basin Konseyi) against the methods of the army high
Command and the Prime Minister’s office.
Noting that these organisations said the accreditation system had
always been problematic in Turkey, Reporters Without Borders added:
"Like them, we hope that the outcry about these reports will help to
shake up this system and change these practices."
The aim of the leaked high command’s report, written in November 2006
by the army’s departmental directorate for public relations and
published on 8 March, was to evaluate the "loyalty" of the media
towards the Turkish Armed Forces (FAT) and to ban those regarded as
weakest from attending or participating in military activities such as
news conference and guided tours.
The report’s authors were fully aware of the harm done by a refusal to
issue accreditation. The report included this comment: "Not granting
accreditation to media regarded as not very credible has also
contributed to these media being held in low esteem by the public."
The report analysed the editorial line of 19 daily newspapers, 18 TV
stations, eight magazines and five news agencies. There is no mention
of any pro-Islamist media as the army refuses to grant them any
accreditation as a matter of principle.
A footnote said this about the daily Radikal: "This is a newspaper
that the FAT should follow closely. It is liable at times to
differentiate itself on the subject of the FAT. During the period
March-July 2005, the newspaper employed the term ‘death’ for the FAT
martyrs. This elicited criticism. The subject was raised on 21 July
2005 during a briefing for the media and the newspaper has since
improved its editorial line thanks to the sensitivity of the managing
editor, Ismet Barkan." As a result, the army recommended that the
newspaper’s accreditation should be renewed but that the four
columnist who had criticised the FAT – Nuray Mert, Yildirim Türker,
Murat Belge and Hasan Celal Güzel – should not receive individual
accreditation.
The army report recommended that accreditation of the UK-based Jane’s
Defence Weekly should be maintained but that its correspondent, Lale
Sariibrahimoglu, should not be invited to FAT activities for
journalists. Her accreditation had already been cancelled by the army
when she wrote for the conservative daily Bugün.
In a final example, the report noted that Erol Mütercimler, the
presenter of the programme "Press Club," was a fierce critic of the
army, even getting into conspiracy theory. It recommended that his TV
station’s accreditation should be provisionally suspended and that the
station’s owner, Ufuk Güldemir, and some of its journalists, should be
barred from military activities for the press.
On 9 March, the day after the leaked report was first published, the
army issued a press release announcing a judicial investigation,
without saying whether it was an internal investigation or one
targeted at the media that had published the report.
The same day, the daily Cumhuriyet published an article on the
"Monthly report by the prime minister’s office," consisting of a sort
of classification of the media. The prime minister’s press office
described the article as "unreal and deliberate" and insisted that "no
such report has ever been submitted to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan."
According to the newspaper, the report even included the fact tha
journalists Nuray Basaran, Enis Berberoglu, Oral Calislar and Güngör
Uras drank 2002 vintage Syrah Calvet French red wine during a visit to
Lebanon on 5 July 2005.
The Islamist daily Yeni Safak (New Dawn) is identified in the report
as an essential support for Prime Minister Erdogan and his
government. The committed Islamist daily Vakit (Time) is praised for
"deflecting criticism of the government over the Muslim headscarf"and
the Islamist daily Zaman is praised for being "free of prejudice
towards any group or person."
Other newspapers are not held in such high esteem. The republican
Cumhuriyet is "rarely objective," the liberal centrist Millyet is said
to have improved after Sedat Ergin became its editor and "the articles
and content became more positive." The liberal right daily Sabah
(Morning) is accused of becoming more negative, publishing fewer
stories about the government and putting them on the inside paged when
it did.
As for the liberal right newspaper Hürriyet (Freedom), the report says
it "no longer puts the government’s activities on its front page since
its leading journalists were not allowed on the prime minister’s plane
during and his US visit, and the reports on the government are quite
short."
The European Union, which Turkey wants to join, has said Turkey will
not be able to meet democratic standards as long as the army continues
to exercise influence over non-military matters. The Turkish Armed
Forces, which often portray themselves as a bulwark against
Islamism,have seized power three times, the last one in 1980.
By Jean Eckian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress