Çağdaş Gazeteciler Derneği Ankara Şubesi - Press associations launch campaign to ‘free journalism’

	Press associations launch campaign to ‘free journalism’
	19 Şubat 2016, Cuma

cihan.com.tr - 19 Şubat 2016

Press associations launch campaign to ‘free journalism’

In solidarity with 33 imprisoned journalists in the country, press associations headed by the Turkish Journalists' Association (TGC) announced on Thursday that they have launched a campaign titled “Free journalism” to raise public awareness on the unlawfulness of putting journalists in pre-trial detention over crimes related to their jobs.
Representatives of the TGC, the Turkish Journalists Union (TGS), the Contemporary Journalists Association (ÇGD) and the Basın-İş Union -- an affiliate union under the Confederation of the Revolutionary Workers' Union (DİSK) -- were present during a press conference in Ankara on Thursday.
TGC President Turgay Olcayto said during the conference people's right to information is central to the work of journalists and that their duty is to disseminate information to the people.
Underlining that there are 33 journalists at the moment who are in prison and victimized by the government's pressure on the media, Olcayto noted the ruling party wants to control all journalists. He also said people have become uneasy as uncorroborated information is spreading through the grapevine after the government silenced dissident voices in the media.
TGS President Uğur Güç said during the press conference it is getting harder every day to be a journalist in Turkey. “Our colleagues face gag orders, detentions, arrests and even death threats while doing their jobs, especially in the southeastern provinces where they are following the clashes between security forces and terrorists,” Güç said.
Calling on the government to lift its pressure on dissident journalists, Faruk Eren, the president of Basın-İş, said there are journalists in the Southeast who are risking their lives while covering the fighting. “The government must ensure the safety of our colleagues who are trapped in buildings for weeks while trying to report from areas where the authorities have imposed curfews,” he added.
Also speaking during the press conference, ÇGD President Ahmet Abakay said: “We want journalists such as Can Dündar and Erdem Gül to be tried without arrest. Putting journalists in pre-trial detention is against freedom of expression and freedom of the press.”
Cumhuriyet daily Editor-in-Chief Dündar and its Ankara representative Gül were arrested on Nov. 26 on charges of membership in a terrorist organization, espionage and revealing confidential documents -- charges that could keep them in prison for life. The charges stem from a terrorism investigation launched after Cumhuriyet published photos in May of last year of weapons it said were being transferred to Syria in trucks operated by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT).
Gül's wife, Aslı Gül, who was also at the press conference, said she is grateful for the support shown for imprisoned journalists, including her husband.

[Cihan/Today's Zaman]