Turkey's Constitutional Court

To call a state democratic and governed by rule of law, the presence of independent and impartial judiciary and judges is necessary, the president of Turkey's Constitutional Court stated in a speech attended by the country's president.

Europe's human rights commissioner has rung alarm bells over human rights abuses during Turkey's ongoing counter-terrorism operations, particularly in the southeast, while portraying a gloomy picture of freedom of expression and judicial independence.

The members of the International Press Institute (IPI) have called on Turkey to end an "escalating crackdown on independent media and dissenting voices that has seen the misuse of anti-terrorism laws to target and imprison journalists reporting on public interest issues."

When Turkey's Constitutional Court took a fateful decision on Feb. 25 to release imprisoned journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, the Western media hailed it. Here was the proof that at least some checks-and-balances still existed in Turkey, as there is some "independent judiciary" left.

The Council of Europe has expressed "serious concerns" over the recent media restrictions in Turkey in the wake of a court ruling which placed a government-critical media group under the administration of trustees.

Turkey's Constitutional Court has decided a local court which ruled for the arrests of journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül had made an "apparent discretion mistake" concerning the ruling which put the two behind bars for over 90 days.

Critical remarks made by Turkey's president on a top court ruling that led to the release of two journalists who spent months under arrest over a news report alleging state-owned trucks carrying weapons to Syria show that steps are being taken for a coup d'état, the country's main opposition leader has said.

Turkey's main opposition party will sue the government for supporting terrorism, its leader has said.

"This government and its predecessors have been the ones which support and abet terrorist organizations.

The International Press Institute (IPI) Turkey National Committee has paid a visit to Cumhuriyet journalist Can Dündar who was released early on Feb. 26 after 92 days in Silivri Prison together with Erdem Gül, the Ankara bureau chief of the newspaper. 

When Turkey's Constitutional Court made a landmark decision last week to free two imprisoned journalists, everything first looked fine. The two scribes in question, Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, had been in jail for 92 days for a news story they ran months ago exposing that the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (M?T) was shipping weapons to some groups in Syria.