Ragip Zarakolu, human rights symbol in modern Turkey, Bulent Gokay
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Bulent Gokay
Turkey will become a real global power only when the high level of its economic progress is matched by a strong, stable and functioning democratic system.
Ragıp Zarakolu, arrested journalist, publisher, writer and human rights advocate, has been nominated for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize by Swedish parliamentarians. A group of MPs from the Swedish Left Party and the Green Party stressed that Zarakolu was an internationally recognized human rights defender who has become a symbol of press freedom and freedom of expression. For his courage, patience, intellectual rigour and pursuit of genuine democracy, Ragip Zarakolu received IPA Freedom to Publish awards in 2008; he received awards in 1995 and 2007 from the Turkey Publishers Association, the NOVIB/PEN Free Expression Award in 2003, and in 2010, he was given the National Library Award of Armenia.
Some 100 detained across Turkey in new wave of KCK arrests? Today’s Zaman – 3 hours ago people were detained early on Monday for suspected links to the KCK in İzmir. (Photo: AA) Some 100 people were detained early on Monday for suspected links |
bianet Tally on Male Violence on Parliament’s Agenda
from Bianet :: English
CHP deputy Melda Onur asked in a parliamentary question submitted to the Minister for Family Affairs, “Considering the severity and urgency of the situation as reflected in the bianet report, why do we lose any time for a draft bill on the prevention of violence?”
Scribe files complaint against intel agency
from Hurriyet Daily News
Mehmet Baransu of the daily Taraf has filed a complaint with the police against two…
The Deteriorating State Of Media Freedom in Turkey
from Turkish Digest
Gareth Jenkins
Most international attention has focused on the more than 100 journalists who are now in jail in Turkey as a result of what they have written or said. But more pernicious ? and ultimately much more corrosive to freedom of expression ? is the widespread self-censorship and the climate of fear, which extends well beyond the media into Turkish society at large. Yet it would be a mistake to hold the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan solely to blame. The underlying problem goes much deeper and is considerably older than the AKP government. Indeed, it could be argued that the main responsibility for the deteriorating state of freedom of expression in the country lies with the Turkish media itself.