Media freedom in Turkey

A lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has said jailed writers in Turkey should be tried without arrest. 
Orhan Miroğlu, the AKP's deputy from the southeastern province of Mardin, specifically referred to the case of award-winning arrested novelist Aslı Erdoğan. 

The passports of two journalists have been confiscated by police at Istanbul Atatürk Airport in the latest of a string of previously unannounced measures preventing media workers from traveling overseas.

A court of serious crimes in Istanbul has transferred a case which will try the suspects in a May 6 assassination attempt against Turkish journalist Can Dündar to a lower court while summoning the famous writer to attend the next hearing on Oct. 21.    

Joost Lagendijk, the former co-chair of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee and Today's Zaman columnist, was denied entry to Turkey on Sept. 25 after his flight from the Netherlands landed at Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen Airport.

An Istanbul court has ruled to merge a case in which journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül are being tried for allegedly aiding a terrorist organization and a case in which a main opposition deputy is facing similar charges in addition to a charge of supplying confidential state information. 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has criticized Turkey over press freedom, at an award ceremony of the Sanssouci Colloquium held in Germany's Potsdam. Merkel mentioned the former editor-in-chief of the daily Cumhuriyet, Can Dündar, during her speech, as she stressed the significance of press freedom. 

Former daily Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dündar has been named among the nominees of the European Parliament's (EP) prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2016. 

Police in Ankara on Sept. 8 detained the lawyer of a former Adana Public Chief prosecutor and two other prosecutors who are currently under arrest for ordering the 2014 stop and search of Turkish intelligence service trucks bound for Syria with the alleged purpose of arming Syrian rebels, a claim denied by government officials. 

Turkey's Youth and Sports Ministry has issued a statement over reports on the seizure of an interview by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) with Youth and Sports Minister Akif Çağatay Kılıç, saying it did not reflect the truth.

A report prepared by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has said the government's "witch hunt" in the aftermath of the failed July 15 coup attempt has targeted leftists and supporters of the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.