Media freedom in Turkey

Two journalists were sentenced to two years in prison on April 28 for republishing in their columns a cover of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo featuring an image of the Prophet Muhammad. 

Turkey continued to be defined as "not free" in U.S.-based think tank Freedom House's 2016 report on press freedom, with its score going up six points and thus signifying a "deteriorating" trend. 

Turkey is among the countries that "suffered the largest declines" over 2015, along with Bangladesh, Burundi, France, Serbia, Yemen, Egypt, Macedonia, and Zimbabwe.

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.

The editor-in-chief of the daily Cumhuriyet, Can Dündar, was fined 28,650 Turkish Liras for "insulting" then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, his son Bilal Erdo?an and seven others, a court ruled on April 25. 

An Istanbul court has rejected a prosecutor's demand to merge a case in which prosecutors and soldiers are being tried for searching trucks belonging to the Turkish intelligence agency with another case in which daily Cumhuriyet journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül are being tried for publishing a news story about the incident. 

A preliminary survey report investigating the Oct. 10 blast in Ankara that killed 103 people, including two suicide bombers, revealed that Turkey's intelligence units were tipped off about imminent suicide bomb attacks targeting rallies 25 days before the explosion. 

In his speeches to Turkish audiences but addressing world leaders, President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an often says that "there should be no good terrorists and bad terrorists" and that "terrorists are terrorists." He's right. But he is not realistic at all if he is seriously expecting the entire world to agree on his own definition of who is a terrorist and who is not. 

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey John Bass has called on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to leave arms. 

It is not possible to consider President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an's visit to Washington as a success by any count. The "strategic partnership" between the two countries continues but it is clear that relations are currently very tense. 

Would any rational person say there is freedom of the press in Turkey?

Is there any rational person who thinks the judicial system in Turkey is fair and unbiased?

Is there a single person who says the Syrian policy is correct and in Turkey's interests?

Unfortunately, there is nobody. 

That means we have a situation that can truly be criticized.