Dire Situation for Journalists and Civil Society in Turkey

As Turkey is rated as “repressed” by the CIVICUS Monitor, CIVICUS spoke to Huseyin Hurmali, President of the Journalists and Writers Foundation about the difficult environment for journalists in Turkey. Worldwide, Turkey has the highest number of imprisoned journalists. Concrete information, confirmed by the international press and human rights organizations, indicates that Turkey is not a free country in terms of freedom of the press. The State of Emergency declared in the aftermath of the failed coup attempt in July 2016 gave total impunity to the state’s ongoing persecution tactics as well as enabling it to launch a total crackdown against civil society and civil servants. In the interview, Hurmali also speaks about the future of democracy in Turkey after the President’s move to consolidate power following a tightly-contested referendum. More information is available here.

Source: CIVICUS