Reform and Regression: Freedom of the Media in Turkey, Fact-Finding Mission Report

In July 2007, the Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) carried out a joint fact-finding mission to Turkey to investigate the current situation for freedom of the media. The mission was co-organised with Article 19, Index on Censorship, the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC) and the Centre for European Studies, Limerick, Ireland in response to reports of rapidly increasing violations of the right to freedom of expression. The mission found that todays retrogressive legislation, rising harassment on the ground and the increased powers that have been conferred to the police, have led many to regard the situation for freedom of the media to have become reminiscent of the `dark years. The report thus provides a background to the 1980s and 1990s and the backdrop against which media freedom has substantially deteriorated since the reforms of 2003 to 2004. It looks at Turkeys legal obligations with respect to the international human rights instruments to which it is State Party; outlines recent amendments to its domestic legislation; and highlights the frequent accounts of violations of the right to freedom of expression experienced increasingly by the opposition, mainly pro-Kurdish media.