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March 31, 2016CIVICUS spoke to Liana Varon, the Deputy Secretary General of the Third Sector Foundation of Turkey (TUSEV) – BCSDN member and a network of over 100 foundations and associations in Turkey, on the situation concerning freedom of expression and the environment for CSOs.
In the interview, Liana spoke about the case surrounding the arrest of 27 academics early 2016, the jailing of journalists, the situation in general concerning freedom of expression and the needed support from the international community amidst the destabilising pressures Turkey has been encountering. She gave an overview of the environment for civil society in 2015, stressing that over the past year there have not been any significant steps taken towards creating a more enabling environment for civil society in Turkey and that, in fact, the civic space has been shrinking more significantly since the end of Gezi Movement protests of 2013. Unexpectedly, the government announced that a new law governing CSOs will be passed by the end of 2016 and TUSEV is following closely any developments regarding the issue and getting ready for introducing a set of recommendations they have prepared over the past years.
Read the full interview here.
