European Forum

European rights court fines Turkey over violation of freedom of speech

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled yesterday (26 January) that Turkey violated the regulation on freedom of speech, when it suspended five newspapers and sentenced a magazine editor to prison over an article criticizing prison brutality. The court awarded a total of more than 37,000 Euros to the 20 journalists who filed two cases against Turkey.

In the first case, an Istanbul court halted publication of five newspapers for three months under anti-terrorism laws, saying they were promoting propaganda from the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Some 19 journalists complained this violated their right to freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights. The second case involved a magazine which ran an article criticizing a security operation in Turkish prisons that left 30 inmates dead. In the wake of the article, Turkish authorities seized all copies of the magazine featuring the article and sentenced the owner and editor-in-chief to six months imprisonment for impinging on the moral authority of the state.

Judges of the ECHR ruled unanimously that Turkey had violated the right to free speech in both cases, and said "the practice of banning the future publication of entire periodicals went beyond any necessary restraint and amounted to censorship."

3,700 websites blocked
Earlier this month, the OSCE -Europe's main security and human rights watchdog- said that Turkey was blocking some 3,700 internet sites for "arbitrary and political reasons". These sites include YouTube, GeoCities and some Google pages. According to the organisation Turkey's internet law fails to preserve free expression in the country and “severely restricts citizens' right to access information". The law should be changed or abolished, said the organisation in a statement.

Fears for press freedom in Turkey have risen following state attempts to collect a .3 billion fine from major media group Dogan in a tax row, part of pressure on Dogan to obey a law limiting foreign ownership of Turkish firms. In October, 2009, the European Commission's annual report on Turkey's progress toward EU membership urged Turkey to treat Dogan fairly and said Ankara needed to do more to protect freedom of expression and the press.

Sources: Hurriyet Daily; Reuters