Turkey

The battle over Turkey’s internet

The passing of law 5651 in Turkey has made it possible for the Turkish government to block access to web pages that contain ‘undesirable’ material. This is part of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğans attempt to suppress any critique of the government. The journalist Alev Yaman writes about the consequences of this law.

Country: 
Turkey

July 8 2015. #17 2015.

“Digitocide”: the new way to silence the masses

Twitter and YouTube were recently closed down in Turkey. Platforms for citizen journalism and websites of non-governmental organisations have fallen victim to the Turkish government’s attempts to shut down their user accounts. The author and political analyst, Gürkan Özturan, describes a new phenomenon in Turkey, “digitocide”—digital lynching and digital murder.

Country: 
Turkey

May 6 2014. #13 2014.

Father died in front of the forbidden tv channel

“Roj TV” has often been accused of being the mouthpiece of the Kurdish armed movement, PKK.

Country: 
Turkey
Subjects: 
Roj TV

January 8 2013. #7 2013.

Forbidden chirping

“Humor is the foremost weapon of the weak,” said Turkish author Aziz Nesin. In this short play, the artist and poet Yeşim Ağaoğlu uses humor to show what is unrolling in her native country. Ağaoğlu belongs to the new generation of leading artists and poets in Turkey who see an increased sidestepping of the freedom of speech and are calling out to do something about it.

Country: 
Turkey

January 8 2013. #7 2013.

Writing letters on water

Trials without end, shady evidence, and fabricated documents are a reality in today’s Turkish judicial system. Translator Petek Demir was tired of seeing his writer and journalist colleagues imprisoned, so he began to work part-time as a paralegal. In this article, he takes us behind Kafka-like proceedings, where one paradox succeeds another.

Country: 
Turkey
Subjects: 
Oda TV
Ergenekon

January 8 2013. #7 2013.

A bomb of a book, a Molotov cocktail of a news story

Journalist İrfan Aktan knows how to avoid time in prison: through self-censorship. More than a hundred journalists are presently being held in Turkey for either their own news reports or the political standpoints of the newspapers they work for.

Country: 
Turkey

January 8 2013. #7 2013.

Kamber Ates, how are you?

Gülsum Cengiz is one of the most acclaimed poets in Turkey. She wrote this poem during the 90s when Kurdish was a forbidden language in the prisons. In order to talk to her imprisoned son, a Kurdish woman learns one sentence in Turkish. Though this poem was written almost twenty years ago, it is still relevant for what is going on in the country.

Country: 
Turkey

January 8 2013. #7 2013.

Language is your innermost line of defense

The right to use the Kurdish language has been one of the major issues of controversy in Turkey during the republic’s entire existence. In recent years, the situation has been dedramatized and it is now possible to broadcast television programs and publish books in Kurdish.

Country: 
Turkey

January 8 2013. #7 2013.

Turkey passes Iran and China

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. Here we present their recent report about Turkey.

Country: 
Turkey

January 8 2013. #7 2013.

Emel Gülcan: “Elimination through detention”

In the late 90s, several Turkish media outlets decided to build a common network, “Bianet,” to help each other meet the numerous threats facing the freedom of speech at the time. The 1990s were a dark period, with the murders of many journalists.

Country: 
Turkey

January 8 2013. #7 2013.

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