Turkey, the Journalists’ prison

CAIRO, 25 June: Since the military coup attempt in July 2016 against the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Journalists in Turkey have been exposed to a ruthless campaign waged by Erdogan’s government, labeled the country as one of the worst places for individuals practicing journalism.

According to Amnesty, at least 156 media institutions have been shut down since 2016 in Turkey, 2500 media workers and journalists have lost their jobs. This came as a part of a wider campaign launched by Erdogan’s government against its critics from the politicians and opposition, left more than 47000 in jails, while more than 100,000 public sector employees were fired of their posts.

More than 250,000 people have signed an online petition calling for the release of Turkey’s journalists and over the last month thousands have supported the #FreeTurkeyMedia campaign. Run by Amnesty International with the support of numerous other organizations, the campaign encourages people to post a ‘solidarity selfie’ on Twitter.

Committee to Protect Journalists ranked Erdogan’s Turkey as the first jailing journalists nation, with numbers of imprisoned and dismissed media workers have exceeded hundreds, most of them were jailed on vague charges and without fair trials, or fired for groundless reasons.

The committee reported 259 journalists are imprisoned worldwide, the highest total since the journalism advocacy group first tracked these numbers in 1990, said Elana Beiser, the study's lead author. Roughly three-quarters face anti-state charges, such as terrorism or producing propaganda, and of all imprisoned reporters, 81 of them are in Turkey.