Let jailed journalists refer to the Strasbourg court

Abdülhamit Bilici

No one can say that everything is rosy in terms of democracy and freedom of thought in a country that is being ruled by a constitution drafted by coup generals as in Turkey. There are many steps that need to be taken for the progress of democracy, and the proponents of a universally valid democracy are all aware of them.

Old Turkey used to show allergic reactions to criticisms voiced by foreign countries about its democratic performance. And the country would spend time and energy responding to these criticisms instead of investing its efforts in the measures that would eliminate, say, torture. Most naturally, this course of action would never be able to put an end to torture nor would this good-for-nothing heroism sound convincing to the critics.

I personally want to believe that old Turkey is a thing of the past. Today, the rate of those -- from both the public and state officials -- who readily acknowledge the ongoing faults or errors and try to tackle them before anyone brings them to the agenda is substantially high. In this context, it would be more beneficial to Turkey to look at the EU's 15th progress report as well as the report released on Monday by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) from this perspective.

The CPJ sums up the very purpose and conclusion of the report right at the beginning, saying: "[It] prepared this report to highlight the widespread criminal prosecution and jailing of journalists in Turkey, along with the government's use of various forms of pressure to engender self-censorship in the press. The CPJ's analysis found highly repressive laws, particularly in the penal code and anti-terror law; a criminal procedure code that greatly favors the state; and a harsh anti-press tone set at the highest levels of government. The situation for freedom of press in Turkey has reached a crisis point."

Placing particular emphasis on the issue of jailed journalists, the CPJ argued that there are 76 journalists imprisoned (as of August 1) and at least 61 of these journalists are being held in direct relation to newsgathering activities, which, it suggests, makes Turkey surpass repressive nations such as Iran and China.

The CPJ is one of the many organizations that have published reports about the freedom of the press in Turkey in recent years. I tend to make the following reminder to those who happen to ask my views on this matter. Go criticize, but if you want yourselves to be heard, you must take note of the following three points:

(1) You cannot say that Turkey has regressed from the past's high freedom standards. On the contrary, compared to the past, taboos can be more freely debated today. Therefore, you may add historical perspective to your criticisms. You must make further mention of the past poor democratic conduct of the Turkish media outlets that are today rightly complaining about the restrictions of freedoms.

(2) It is absurd to suggest purely based on statistics that Turkey is more backward than Iran and China in terms of freedoms. Do not forget that the dissident press organs which do not nurture expectations about the government such as Cumhuriyet and Sözcü dailies can freely publish whatever they want. In addition to the legal framework and obligations of the government, also draw attention to the responsibilities of media bosses.

(3) Having journalists in jail is not something to be proud of. But in criticizing the practice of jailing journalists, you should also note that some journalists are placed behind bars because of their activities that do not play nicely with democracy and the very nature of journalism, such as involvement in coup attempts. Do not ignore what happened to the journalists who were involved in the News of the World incident in the UK. In discussing the case of the journalists arrested in connection with their ties with the terrorist organization, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), do not turn a blind eye to what happens to people who are charged with aiding and abetting terrorism in the West.

It is saddening to see that the CPJ, too, gloss over these points, despite the fact that it argues that in its previous report only eight journalists were in jail, and that this figure has risen, weirdly, to 61 in its current report. For instance, according to the latest report, one of the journalists who is in jail in a controversial manner is Tuncay Özkan, a defendant at the case against Ergenekon -- a clandestine organization nested within the state trying to overthrow or manipulate the democratically elected government. Oddly enough, while it may be acceptable to regard the Turkish courts' decision to send other journalists to jail as controversial, this can hardly be suggested for Özkan as a decision has been passed by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) about his imprisonment. As is known, Özkan had applied to the Strasbourg court, claiming that his arrest was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as he did not know the charges raised against him and he was not receiving a fair trial and there was no solid evidence about his culpability. But the European court had found no breach of the convention and did not associate his imprisonment with his journalistic activities. The court had only found his complaints about the length of detention as admissible. However, is it normal for the CPJ's report to refer only to this aspect of the ECtHR's decision while playing dumb about other and more critical aspects?

I wish that every jailed journalist refer to the ECtHR to put an end to this confusion. There are numerous problems about freedom of the press in Turkey, but domestic and foreign approaches to this matter can hardly be deemed unproblematic.

Published on Today's Zaman, 23 October 2012, Tuesday

Posted in: Committee to Protect Journalists, Democracy, Ergenekon, European Court of Human Rights, Free Speech, Journalism, Turkey