Turkish government has detained 30 journalists and arrested 14 journalist in August while 2 journalists were released from prison according to a report released by Free Journalists’ Initiative (ÖGİ) on press freedom and oppression against journalists in Turkey on Tuesday. The report has also claimed that currently 180 journalists are imprisoned in Turkey.
Mentioning the fact that 4 news websites were baned by the Information and Communications Technology Authority 14 times. Özgürlükçü Demokrasi 5, Sendika.org 5, Dihaber 3 and Rojeva Medya n1, the report stated that 3 press organizations were shut down by Turkish authorities including the popular Kurdish news agency Dihaber.
The report stated that Turkish authorities have continued to confiscate passports of journalist and banned a journalist from traveling abroad. The report was presented to the public at a press conference in Human Rights Association’s (İHD) office in Diyarbakır.
Turkey is the biggest jailer of journalists in the world. The most recent figures documented by the Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) has showed that 283 journalists and media workers are now in jails as of August 18, 2017, most in pre-trial detention languishing in notorious Turkish prisons without even a conviction. Of those in Turkish prisons, 258 are arrested pending trial, only 25 journalists remain convicted and serving time in Turkish prisons. An outstanding detention warrants remain for 135 journalists who live in exile or remain at large in Turkey.
Detaining tens of thousands of people over alleged links to the movement, the government also closed down more than 180 media outlets after the controversial coup attempt. Turkey’s Contemporary Journalists’ Association (ÇGD) recently announced that more than 900 press cards were cancelled.