Turkish authorities claim the alleged plot called for assassinations and attacks that would have created chaos, with the ultimate aim of inciting the military to launch a coup d'état. The investigation has accused hundreds of politicians, retired military officers, academics and journalists of conspiring to bring down the government.
The latest wave of arrests came after police raided the homes of 10 journalists and writers, amongst them Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener, prominent author and investigative reporter for Milliyet daily newspaper. They were initially accused of "inciting hatred and animosity among the public," charges later defined as "being... member[s] of the Ergenekon organisation."
According to reports, the latest arrests bring to 63 the number of journalists under arrest in Turkey, many of whom have been charged in connection with the Ergenekon investigation.
A series of demonstrations were held in Istanbul and Ankara over the weekend in support of the detained journalists that highlighted the deteriorating environment for freedom of the press in Turkey.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's calls for the media "to act responsibly" in their response to the recent raids was met with little sympathy amongst the demonstrators, with the Freedom for Journalists Platform - an umbrella group representing local and national media organisations in Turkey - responding with claims that the Prime Minister's ruling party bore much of the responsibility "for creating a climate of pressure and fear in the country."
WAN-IFRA has written to Prime Minister Erdogan to express its concern at the targeting of journalists for simply doing their jobs, calling on him "to ensure that Sik, Sener and all others held for exercising their right to freedom of expression are immediately released and that all charges against them are dropped."
The full letter can be read at tinyurl.com/4ldbdjr and more on WAN-IFRA's press freedom campaigns can be found at
www.wan-ifra.org/microsites/press-freedom.
WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore, India, Spain, France and Sweden, is the global organisation of the world’s newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18 000 publications, 15 000 online sites and over 3000 companies in more than 120 countries. The organisation was created by the merger of the World Association of Newspapers and IFRA, the research and service organisation for the news publishing industry.
Go to: http://www.wan-ifra.org
