Human rights and the imprisonment of journalists in Turkey will be high on the agenda of the AGM and conference of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), which meets in Dublin from 4-7 June. This meeting of reporters from across the world is an opportunity for Ireland to use its influence on behalf of journalists in prison at a crucial time of change for the Kurdish community in Turkey, and while Ireland still holds the presidency of the European Union.
Human rights and the imprisonment of journalists in Turkey will be high on the agenda of the AGM and conference of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), which meets in Dublin from 4-7 June. This meeting of reporters from across the world is an opportunity for Ireland to use its influence on behalf of journalists in prison at a crucial time of change for the Kurdish community in Turkey, and while Ireland still holds the presidency of the European Union.
The global summit will welcome leading international journalists to Dublin and will be addressed by President Michael D Higgins and Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Irish capital is an appropriate venue for the summit as Dublin journalist Barry McCall is the current president of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), the trade union for journalists in Ireland and the United Kingdom, which is hosting the Dublin meeting.
I was in Turkey last October along with former Irish MEP and president of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, also previously a journalist and presenter on Irish television who has since held the presidency of the European Movement International. In Istanbul and Ankara we met journalists, trade unionist, students, NGO groups and politicians including government ministers. And it was while we were in Ankara that the 2012 Progress Report on Turkey by the European Commission was published, expressing serious concern about the increase in violations of freedom of speech and freedom of the media.
Although there appears to be little appetite today on the part of either Turkey or the EU for the former to become a member of the EU, and Turkey is looking more to strengthening its links with the Middle East, the EU has informed Turkey that freedom of expression and freedom of the press are core conditions for the accession to the EU. There is no freedom of the press in the country; 80 per cent of the media is owned by people close to the Turkish government; and anyone who opposes the government is accused of being a terrorist – that includes journalists, writers, researchers, students and academics. Besides journalists, even generals have been imprisoned based on claims that they have links with terrorism and are a threat to the state.
The Turkish government always says that journalists are in prison because of links with terrorism and not because of lack of press freedom, but journalists I have met in Turkey insist this is not the case.
There are currently 66 journalists in prison in Turkey, according to the recent NUJ meeting on Turkey in London addressed by Jim Boumelha, president of the International Federation of Journalists. Turkey tops a list followed by Iran, China, and Eritrea for journalists in prison. It appears that in Turkey there is a failure to draw a distinction between reporting on terrorism and promoting it, and the government regards media outlets that report on sensitive subjects such as the Kurdish issue as “publishing organs of illegal organisations”.
Often described as ‘Turkey’s new Sultan’, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to be the next president of Turkey with increased powers – it has been claimed he is seeking powers along the lines of those held by President Vladimir Putin in Russia – and has decided he needs to secure Kurdish support to achieve his ambition. A dialogue with the jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan has resulted in the withdrawal of Kurdish troops with the prospect of a peace settlement.
The changes taking place in Turkey with respect to the Kurdish community provides Ireland with the chance to use its influence for the promotion of peace and human rights and on behalf of journalist in prison in the country.
Michael McGowan is a former MEP and president of the development committee of the European Parliament.
