EFJ Mission to Turkey Demands Immediate Release of Journalists in Prison

EFJMissiontoTurkeyDemands Immediate Release of Journalists in Prison

Over 60 journalists currently in jail inTurkeymust be set free immediately, says the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) ahead of a trial inIstanbulstarting today.

An EFJ delegation will visitTurkeyon 22-24 November on a mission to attend the court trial of10 journalists. Following the trial, which will be on 22 November, the delegation will meet with the families of the jailed journalists on 23November and send solidarity messages to support them. The mission will also go toAnkarato meet with members of the Turkish Parliament pressing the authorities for the immediate release of jailed journalists.

“We demand the immediate release of all journalists whose continued detention has only served to show the country's intolerance of real democratic debate," said Arne König, EFJ President. “These journalists are not put in prison because they are terrorists but only for doing their work”. For example, Ahmet Şik and Nedim Şener have already been detainedfor eight months on trumped-up terrorism charges, and the trial will only start tomorrow.

The other eight journalists and writers, Soner Yalçın, Barış Pehlivan, Barış Terkoğlu, Müyesser Yıldız, Doğan Yurdakul, Yalçın Küçük, Sait Çakır and Coşkun Musluk are accused of putting their reporting and writing in the service of an alleged terrorist conspiracy known as Ergenekon. Ergenekon is the name given to an alleged clandestine, Kemalist ultra-nationalist organization inTurkeywith possible ties to members of the country's military and security forces.

“It will be interesting to see whether the investigation has enabled prosecutors to gather any evidence other than the wild accusations that came out after interrogations with the journalists,” said König ahead of the trials.

The European Federation of Journalists has already been in direct correspondence with many of the jailed journalists, following a postcard campaign launched in October.

The Freedom for Journalists Platform (GÖP) has invited the "mission toTurkey" to follow the trial of the 10 journalists in jail as the symbol of solidarity with all journalists in prison inTurkey. Together with representatives from the EFJ and its affiliate, the Türkiye Gazeteciler Sendikası (TGS - Journalists' Union of Turkey) the International Press Institute (IPI), Reporters without Borders (RsF) and the European Association of Journalists (AEJ), joined journalists and civil society organizations including trade unions will all participate in a demonstration and press statement in front of the court building at 9.30 on 22 November before the trial (Caglayan Court).

Members of the mission are:
EFJ : President Arne König and Vice President Philippe Leruth, from DJV Ramis Kılıçarslan and Monika Kabay and TGS President Ercan Ipekci; IPI: Vice President Pavol Mudry and Press Freedom Advisor in Europe and North America Steven Ellis; RSF: European Office Representative Johann Bihr and Representative in Turkey Erol Önderoğlu and AEJ: Vice President Saia Tsaouasidou and Vice President in Turkey Doğan Tılıç.

For more information on the EFJ campaign to set journalists free inTurkey, visitHERE.

For more information, contact the EFJ at 32 2 2352202

The EFJ is the regional organisation inEuropeof the International Federation of Journalists and represents over 260.000 journalists in 32 European countries.