BAJ Backs International Urge to Respect Press Rights in Turkey

«We join the appeal of the Inter­na­tion­al Fed­er­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (IFJ) and the Euro­pean Fed­er­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (EFJ), of which BAJ is a mem­ber orga­ni­za­tion. We fol­low the events in Turkey, and grieve for the peo­ple who have become vic­tims of the vio­lent actions. We hope that the Repub­lic of Turkey will be able to restore order and peace soon,» says the state­ment.

«How­ev­er, we believe that the state of emer­gency should not be used as an excuse for wide­spread purges in media and oth­er sec­tions of soci­ety. Cen­sor­ship of media sim­ply for crit­i­ciz­ing gov­ern­ment pol­i­cy is unlaw­ful, even in a state of emer­gency.

We call on the Turk­ish author­i­ties to respect inter­na­tion­al con­ven­tions pro­tect­ing the human rights, the trade union rights and the free­dom of expres­sion.

We urge you to fos­ter a cul­ture where press free­dom is ful­ly respect­ed.»