Media freedom in Turkey

A police operation launched against daily Cumhuriyet on charges of supporting terrorism is "the red line" for the Republican People's Party (CHP), the main opposition party's spokesperson has said, claiming the operation was a joint act by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ).

The Council of Europe will give a press freedom award to Turkish daily Cumhuriyet journalists and the newspaper itself, as a part of the program of the fifth World Forum for Democracy, scheduled to be held between Nov. 7 and 9. 

SARAJEVO - I have been in Europe in the past week, in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Heidelberg, Germany, for public talks on freedom. Organized by the brilliant group "Students for Liberty," these were events that brought together liberals and libertarians in this part of the world to discuss threats against free speech, or freedom of religion, or the freedom of markets.

For our international readers and viewers, here is the snapshot of what Cumhuriyet Newspaper means. It is the holy grail of Turkey's journalism. It is the "école supérieure" of newspaper making.

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has downplayed Europe's "red line" on press freedom and rejected remarks by the head of the European Parliament over the detention of the top staff of daily Cumhuriyet on terror charges. 

Turkish daily Cumhuriyet, which saw a wave of detentions targeting executives and columnists early on Oct. 31, has published reports aimed at "stirring public disorder in line with the aims of the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ)," according to the probe's prosecutor.

Authors Can Dündar and Aslı Erdoğan and linguist Necmiye Alpay have slammed the detention of executives and columnists from the critical daily newspaper Cumhuriyet.

Dündar, who until recently was Cumhuriyet's editor-in-chief, said Europe had to decide whether to take a principled stand over the situation in Turkey. 

Journalists in Turkey started the week with the early bird news on Oct. 31 that yet another colleague had been taken into police custody after a raid on his house.

Two opposition parties have condemned the detention of the editor-in-chief and more than a dozen journalists of daily Cumhuriyet early on Oct. 31, saying the move passes another threshold in pressure on dissidents by the Turkish government. 

Istanbul police raided the house of Can Dündar in the Çengelköy neighborhood of Istanbul, the former editor-in-chief of daily Cumhuriyet, as part of an operation against the newspaper on Oct. 31.

Police could not find anyone at home, but Can Dündar's wife, Dilek Dündar, flew from İzmir to Istanbul to open the house to police.