International Reactions

Reporters Without Borders (RSF), in a report released on Monday, called on the Turkish government to rescind decrees that have been enforced under the state of emergency declared after a failed coup attempt on July 15, as the administration continues to target journalists, pluralism and freedom of information. Urging the government to return to democratic

US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Chairman Dana Rohrabacher said during a hearing titled “Turkey after the July Coup Attempt” in the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday that the Turkish government’s claims against a US-based Turkish scholar for masterminding the July 15 coup attempt lack substantial evidence and were not credible. “The Turkish government is

Members of the European Parliament (EP) discussed developments following the July 15 failed coup attempt in Turkey at a session on Tuesday and stressed the need for the fair trial of suspects who have been arrested on coup charges. The EU foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini, and EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn, who paid a

CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova today testified before the Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats Subcommittee of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, at the hearing, “Turkey after the July Coup Attempt.” Ognianova focused on how Turkey’s crackdown on critical and independent media in Turkey has accelerated in the aftermath of a

Michel Benichou, president of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), has stated that he is deeply concerned about the safety of the judiciary in Turkey and called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to release lawyers in Turkish prisons. Benichou sent a letter to Erdoğan on behalf of the CCBE on

Fifty-four prominent international writers, academics, journalists and publishers have signed a statement calling on the Turkish government to end the vendetta it is waging against its brightest thinkers and writers who do not happen to share its point of view. “The failed coup should not be a pretext for a McCarthy-style witch-hunt nor should that

Turkey must avoid targeting individuals simply because they worked for firms affiliated with the Gulen Movement, otherwise it may be challenged in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the Council of Europe (CoE) Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland urged. Turkey must produce clear evidence in pursuing participants in a failed coup, Jagland said on September,

International civil society organizations have condemned the Turkish government for abusing an ongoing state of emergency in the country to suppress freedom of expression and have called on the government to immediately and unconditionally release all journalists detained without evidence in Turkey and to cease its harassment of the few remaining independent and opposition media

By Özgür Öğret Police raid newspaper offices, detain at least 23 employees Police in the southeastern Turkish city Diyarbakır yesterday raided the main office of the Kurdish-language daily newspaper Azadiya Welat, according to newsreports. According to the independent news website Bianet, police detained at least 23 employees of the newspaper, beating many of them in

Index strongly condemns the indefinite closure of newspaper Özgür Gündem by a Turkish court.  The silencing — even temporarily — of one of Turkey’s last independent papers underscores the severe erosion of freedom of expression in the country. This crackdown on critical voices has accelerated since the attempt to overthrow the country’s democratically elected and increasingly autocratic president