l m i k press unfreedom in Turkey a documentary by THOMAS SIDERIS - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

l m i k

press unfreedom in Turkey

a documentary by THOMAS SIDERIS

OVERVIEW OVERVIEW

Press freedom in Turkey is a timeless issue with imprisonments

and murders of journalists. But in recent years the situation has worsened dramatically. The government, controlled by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party, aggressively used the penal code, criminal

defamation legislation, and the country’s antiterrorism law to

punish critical reporting, and journalists faced growing violence, harassment, and intimidation from both state and nonstate actors during the year.

I started the film at June 2016. The political situation in Turkey smelt gunpowder. The AKP's government was chasing the ghost of Fethullah Gülen everywhere. At the same time, the democracy in this country, which leans with one foot in the East and the other in the West, looked more like a ghost than a political system.

Why Why “ilmik?” “ilmik?”

Dozens of journalists were interrogated by prosecutors and unconfirmed number

• f

journalists were already in high security prisons, having exceeded the detention limit. The Pesident

• f Turkish Press Council, Pinar Turenc, confided

me that 7000 journalist their jobs the last two

• years. The Turkish goverments is putting a noose
• n press freedom, speech free, human rights and,

finally, on democracy.

Why Why “ilmik?” “ilmik?”

I am a journalist, member of International Federation of

• Journalism. Journalism is not a crime. The oppression on the

Turkish press is getting worse every day. Those who are protecting the freedom of press and trying to do their jobs are being made to pay a heavy price. The journalists who report from conflict zones are subject to threats and abuse; their lives are constantly in danger.

MY MY PERSONAL PERSONAL VIEW VIEW

Reporters, editors and writers are under investigation, they are sued for defamation… Many

• f

them are jailed pending trial and are imprisoned because of the reports they do or share on social media. Those working for the press are labeled as enemies through accusations such as being spies, doing propaganda for terror

• rganizations.

Foreign journalists who are reporting about Turkey are also being targeted in the same way.

MY PERSONAL VIEW MY PERSONAL VIEW

Journalism, maybe for the first time in the history of Turkey, is being

• ppressed

and criminalized in a way that also includes the international press. The journalists are forced to situations in which they can not do their work anymore and then fired. They

• ften work under the pressure
• f

censorship, they are stigmatized according to which news they give

• r

which

• rganization they work for.

MY PERSONAL VIEW MY PERSONAL VIEW

The facts are restricted by media blackouts. Those publications and broadcasts that are ‘’undesirable” are considered criminal. Many media outlets are under the threat of being closed down. In spite of all these pressures, the journalists, from Istanbul to Diyarbakır, continue to stand guard in front of prisons, in the courthouse gardens, at editorial departments, thus showing their solidarity with their oppressed colleagues. Protecting freedom of press means protecting the public’s right to information.

MY PERSONAL VIEW MY PERSONAL VIEW

MY PERSONAL VIEW MY PERSONAL VIEW

In a society where the right to information is restricted, one cannot speak of democracy. I will work with all my might to be the voice of those whose credibilities have been damaged, who have been imprisoned, who are being silenced just because of their profession or because they have supported the freedom of

• press. I am journalist and I cry out: Journalism is not a crime!

MY PEOPLE MY PEOPLE

With Arzu Yildiz in Ankara. With Erkan Akkus in Istanbul.

12 of the 19 journalists who speak in “ilmik” are currently in prison.

MY PEOPLE MY PEOPLE

My soul hurts. My mind travels to them.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT ME A FEW WORDS ABOUT ME

I am journalist and writer. I have graduated from the University of Athens, Political Science and Public Administration Faculty. I am specialized in mass media. I have completed postgraduate studies at the Aegean University and I have specialized in Human Geography. I have written 23 books (literature, historical and social recearches etc) and 5 theatrical plays. I have finished 2 documentaries. My last documentary with title "Shadow on the soul" won the 1st award in Greek Film Festival in London (in this film I was writer, researcher and narrator). For my book and short documentary about famous Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis with title "Nikos Kazantzakis, wayfarer and traveler" I won the prize "Αmbassador of European culture” for the year 2008.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT ME A FEW WORDS ABOUT ME

ΑΝ IMPORTANT MOMENT ΑΝ IMPORTANT MOMENT

I signed with Hasan Haci the penultimate article which uploaded on the website of the newspaper TODAY'S ZAMAN just before the intervention of police forces in FEZA MEDIA GROUP building.

My documentary is a private production. For my country, Greece, Turkey is a "conventional enemy". No professional producer wants to take the cost for this production, even though it relates to infringement issues of democracy in a neighboring country. Ι need your help to fix and end my documentary. By this time though I had the full support of the Asya organization.

WHY I NEED YOU WHY I NEED YOU

With Pinar Turenc, President of Turkish Press Council.

PREPARETION OF PREPARETION OF DOCUMENTARY DOCUMENTARY

The documentary will have a total during of 100-140 minutes. The total budget relates to:

• 1. Payments journalistic team, sound engineers,

cameramen.

• 2. Market legitimate audiovisual files from news agencies

and television stations.

• 3. Travels to Turkey and Europe (England and Germany) to

have interviews with the protagonists of the dramatic situations.

• 4. Editing (up to 800 hours).
• 5. Translating and subtitling in three languages (English,

Greek, Turkish).

• 6. Final film processing.

THE TEAMS OF “ILMIK” THE TEAMS OF “ILMIK”

The 1st group is based in Turkey, but for safe reasons, I can't reveal their names. The second group is based in Greece. This group consists of:

• 1. Takis Bardakos, director of photography
• 2. Dimitrios Sidiropoulos, montage preparation
• 3. Gerasimos Antipas, sound engineer
• 4. Toni Briedel, scientific advisor
• 5. Kostas Melas, professor, scientific advisor
• 6. Ersi Vatou, journalist, speaker
• 7. Hasan Haci, journalist, translator

The third group is based in West Europe.

PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY

Constitutional guarantees of press freedom and freedom of expression are only partially upheld in

• practice. They are undermined by provisions in

the penal code, the criminal procedure code, and the harsh, broadly worded antiterrorism law that essentially leave punishment of normal journalistic activity to the discretion of prosecutors and

• judges. Constitutional protections are also

subverted by hostile public rhetoric against critical journalists and outlets from Erdoğan and other government officials, which is often echoed in the progovernment press.

PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY

A 2004 press law replaced prison sentences with fines for violations of its provisions, but elements of the penal code and several other restrictive laws have led to the imprisonment of dozens of journalists and writers in recent years. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), there were 14 reporters behind bars in Turkey as of December 1, 2015. Figures compiled by the independent Turkish press agency Bianet were higher, showing 31 journalists in prison at the end of the year.

PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY

Article 301 significantly curbed its application in practice. Very few of those prosecuted under Article 301 receive convictions, but the trials are time-consuming and expensive, and the law exerts a chilling effect on

• speech. Article 216 of the penal

code, which bans incitement of hatred or violence based on ethnicity, class, or religion and carries a prison term of up to three years, has also been used against journalists and other commentators.

PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY

Turkey’s antiterrorism law,

• fficially called the Law on

the Fight against Terrorism, and related provisions in the penal code rely on broad language and vague definitions, allowing room for application against a wide range of activities. Other articles as well as the antiterrorism law penalize “making terrorist propaganda” and the publication of the statements

• f illegal groups.

The Fourth Judicial Reform package, passed in 2013, slightly alleviated the antiterrorism law’s limitations on publishing such statements, clarifying that publication would only be a crime if the statement constituted coercion, violence,

• r genuine threats. Nevertheless, both the

law and related sections of the penal code remain highly restrictive, and have been widely criticized by media and human rights groups. The European Court of Human Rights has found in multiple rulings that specific provisions of the antiterrorism law amount to censorship and violations of free expression.

PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY

PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY

Media face addition restrictions in the 2014 Law Amending the Law on State Intelligence Services and the National Intelligence Organization, which granted the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) much greater powers, including the ability to access any personal data without a court order. It also gave MİT personnel immunity for legal violations committed in the course of their work, and criminalized reporting on or acquiring information about the body.

Media workers can face up to nine years in prison for publishing information from leaked intelligence material. Amendments made in 2014 to Law No. 5651, commonly known as the Internet Law of Turkey, expanded the power

• f

the Telecommunications Communication Presidency (TİB) to order the blocking of websites, allowing it to do so on vaguely defined grounds and without prior court approval, though a court must uphold the order within 48 hours for a block to remain in place.

PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY

PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY

In August 2015, the office of the Istanbul chief public prosecutor filed an indictment against 18 journalists from nine local outlets, accusing them

• f “making terrorist propaganda” and seeking a

sentence of seven and a half years for each

• individual. The charges stemmed from the

newspaper’s publication of information about the MİT allegedly supplying weapons to Islamist militants in Syria, and followed a criminal complaint filed by Erdoğan in June. Dündar and Gül were accused of supporting a “parallel state” composed of the followers of the exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen, and Erdoğan publicly issued verbal threats against the newspaper after it published the information in question.

PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY

Defamation is a criminal offense and often results in high fines and prison terms, which have a chilling effect on journalistic

• work. Insulting the president is a separate offense outlined in

the penal code. Prominent officials, including Erdoğan, frequently initiate defamation and insult cases against journalists, cartoonists, artists, and academics.

In June 2016, a court in Ankara convicted Bülent Keneş, editor in chief of the English- language paper Today’s Zaman, of insulting Erdoğan in a post on his personal Twitter account in July 2014, when Erdoğan was prime minister. The court gave Keneş a sentence of 21 months in prison, suspended for five years. In November, an Istanbul court held the first hearing in the case of Cumhuriyet reporter Canan Coşkun, who was accused of insulting several members of the judiciary in an article about corrupt real-estate

• transactions. The case was ongoing at

year’s end; if convicted, Coşkun could face a cumulative punishment of 23 years and four months in prison.

PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY PRESS UNFREEDOM IN TURKEY

YOU CAN HELP. YOU CAN HELP.

Donothesitatetocontactwithus.

Hasan Dalan, public relation manager Levent Eyuboglu, executive producer Thomas Sideris, creator of the documentary