Europe & Central Asia

2017

  
Mesale Tolu holds a news conference at her lawyer's office in Istanbul, Turkey, December 18, 2017. Tolu, who worked in Turkey as a translator for the socialist Etkin News Agency (ETHA), was released pending trial, the German news agency Deutsche Welle reported. (Reuters/Osman Orsal)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of December 17, 2017

Journalists sentenced A court in Turkey’s southeastern Hakkâri region on December 15 sentenced Nedim Türfent, a former reporter for the shuttered pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), to eight years and nine months in prison for “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” the independent news website Bianet reported.

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A view of the historical old city of Istanbul in December 2017. A court in the city has ordered three Zaman employees to be released for the duration of their trial. (AFP/Ozan Kose)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of December 11, 2017

Media workers released An Istanbul court on December 8 ordered three employees from the advertisement department of the now shuttered daily Zaman–Hüseyin Belli, Onur Kutlu and İsmail Küçük–to be freed pending trial, the English-language news blog Turkish Minute reported. The three are part of a trial that started in September 2017 which, as CPJ previously…

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A journalist from the pro-Kurdish Ozgur Gundem gives an interview to a German TV channel at their newsroom in June 2016. A Turkish court on November 30, 2017, ordered the paper's former chief editor and former responsible editor to pay a fine of 100,000 Turkish liras (US$25,858) for not publishing a correction. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of December 3, 2017

Journalists released An Istanbul court on December 6 released freelance journalist Tunca Öğreten and daily Birgün accountant Mahir Kanaat, pending the outcome of their trial, the independent news website Bianet reported.

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Members of the media cover a protest outside an Istanbul court during the trial of about a dozen newspaper employees on October 31, 2017. (AP/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of November 26, 2017

Journalists prosecuted An Istanbul court on November 25 charged freelance photojournalist Çağdaş Erdoğan with being member of and making propaganda for a “terrorist organization,” the daily Evrensel reported.

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A panel at the Sporting Chance Forum in Geneva discusses the obligation of host nations to create a safe environment for the press. (Courtney C. Radsch/CPJ)

CPJ joins coalition to establish sports and human rights center

The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined a coalition of international sport organizations, civil society, and governments that are establishing an independent Centre for Sport and Human Rights. In a statement published today, the Mega-Sporting Events Platform for Human Rights, which CPJ is part of, outlined its commitment to establishing the center in 2018.

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Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a meeting of Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, on November 22, 2017. Several days prior, Erdoğan called journalists elitists and said that they are the

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of November 19, 2017

Journalists sentenced An Ankara court on November 22 sentenced Ayşenur Parıldak, a former court reporter for the shuttered daily Zaman, seven years and six months in prison for “being a member of an armed terrorist organization,” the online newspaper Diken reported.

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U.S. journalist Paul Klebnikov, pictured in Moscow in May 2004. Ukraine has arrested a suspect in the murder of Klebnikov, who was editor for Forbes Magazine's Russia edition. (AP/Misha Japaridze/File)

Ukraine arrests suspect in 2004 murder of Forbes editor Paul Klebnikov

Ukraine’s state intelligence agency announced on November 18 that it had detained a man wanted by Interpol for the high-profile murder of American journalist Paul Klebnikov in Russia 13 years ago. Russia’s Interior Ministry on November 20 named the suspect as Magomed Dukuzov and said that Ukrainian authorities had apprehended him at its request, according…

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A view of the "July 15th Martyrs' Bridge", formerly known as Bosporus Bridge, in Istanbul during a marathon on November 12, 2017. (AP/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of November 12, 2017

Journalists released A Turkish court on November 9 released from prison Mehmet Çağrı, chief editor for the local radio station Dersim Munzur, during his first trial hearing in the southeastern city of Tunceli, which is also known as by the Kurdish name of Dersim, the daily Evrensel reported.

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Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cheer as he addresses parliament in Ankara, Turkey, November 7, 2017. Turkish authorities, under Erdogan's leadership, began a wide-reaching crackdown after a failed attempted coup in June 2016. (Reuters/Umit Bektas)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of November 5, 2017

Journalists arrested A Turkish court on November 9 arrested Nuh Gönültaş, a columnist for the shuttered daily Bugün, Behram Kılıç, a sports reporter for the now-shuttered daily Zaman, and Mehmet Gündem, who formerly worked for Zaman and pro-government outlets including the state-run broadcaster TRT, according to the English-language news site Turkish Minute.

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A vigil for Daphne Caruana Galizia, outside Malta House in London, calls for justice in the case of the murdered investigative journalist. (Reporters Without Borders)

CPJ joins vigil calling for justice in Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder

Today, on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, CPJ joined with other international press freedom groups to condemn the murder last month of Daphne Caruana Galizia, an investigative journalist from Malta.

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2017