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| President Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan in 2009. Photo: AAP |
I really should write about the Westboro Baptist Church's victory the other day. The Supreme Court ruled that the WBC can continue to picket funerals. Yes, protesting homosexuality at a funeral is free speech too. I really, really should blog about this ruling, which will determine the outcome of free speech cases in the future, but the entire blogging community beat me to it. Also, after dedicating 500 words to Glenn Beck, I want to write about someone or something that does not piss me off. So I decided to leave it up to you to decide whether you agree with Sarah Palin that this ruling lacks common sense, which she worded so eloquently on her Twitter page, or whether even ugly free speech should be protected.
OK, never mind, I am going to write about something that pisses me off. While my Google Reader was dominated by the news on the WBC ruling, I heard about a far more shocking free speech issue that received much less attention than it deserves. Nine journalists were arrested in Turkey on March 3rd. The police claimed that they have reason to believe that these journalists were involved in the planning of Ergenekon's coup against the government. Ergenekon is the name of an ultra-nationalist group in Turkey, which allegedly attempted to overthrow the government through acts of terrorism. Only no one believes that this is the real reason for the arrests.
Human Rights Watch reported that among the arrested journalists are two investigative reporters known for their criticism of the Turkish police. One of them had been co-writing a book about the role of the police in the Ergenekon case and the other had published a book on the murder of Turkish journalist and human rights defender Hrant Dink.
I was surprised to learn that this is not the only recent incident of repression of free speech. Last month, the Turkish government, led by Prime Minister Erdogan's AK (Justice and Development) Party, ordered the search of the OdaTV office. OdaTV is a news website which is very critical of the government. Three of their journalists were also accused of having ties to Ergenekon. Erdogan has also been very busy suing cartoonists and journalists for defamation and attempting to silence Dogan Media Group. Of course, Erdogan claims that this $452 million tax fine, which was recently overturned, had nothing to do with the Dogan's accusations of corruption against Erdogan's party.
Human Rights Watch is concerned about these recent developments and fears that the large number of arrests and prosecutions will lead journalists to shy away from criticizing the government. Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch, also fears that the government is using the Ergenekon case to punish journalists and is less concerned with punishing the terrorists behind the group's violent acts.
I learned a lot researching this topic. I always believed Erdogan to be a decent prime minister. Little did I know about his party's anti-secularist activities, such as pushing the military out of its role as a "guardian of the country's secular governing tradition." Erdogan's party has linked the pro-secularist Ergenekon organization to the Turkish military. In 2010, dozens of officers were arrested on grounds of terrorism. And now, in 2011, the government is arresting journalists. I should not go as far as concluding that the Ergenekon case is only serving the interests of the AK Party, but it is obvious that Erdogan does have a vital interest in keeping the military and the press from interrupting his efforts to reinstate an Islamic-oriented government. Although Erdogan prefers the term "Muslim democracy." Democracy...yeah right.
OK, never mind, I am going to write about something that pisses me off. While my Google Reader was dominated by the news on the WBC ruling, I heard about a far more shocking free speech issue that received much less attention than it deserves. Nine journalists were arrested in Turkey on March 3rd. The police claimed that they have reason to believe that these journalists were involved in the planning of Ergenekon's coup against the government. Ergenekon is the name of an ultra-nationalist group in Turkey, which allegedly attempted to overthrow the government through acts of terrorism. Only no one believes that this is the real reason for the arrests.
Human Rights Watch reported that among the arrested journalists are two investigative reporters known for their criticism of the Turkish police. One of them had been co-writing a book about the role of the police in the Ergenekon case and the other had published a book on the murder of Turkish journalist and human rights defender Hrant Dink.
I was surprised to learn that this is not the only recent incident of repression of free speech. Last month, the Turkish government, led by Prime Minister Erdogan's AK (Justice and Development) Party, ordered the search of the OdaTV office. OdaTV is a news website which is very critical of the government. Three of their journalists were also accused of having ties to Ergenekon. Erdogan has also been very busy suing cartoonists and journalists for defamation and attempting to silence Dogan Media Group. Of course, Erdogan claims that this $452 million tax fine, which was recently overturned, had nothing to do with the Dogan's accusations of corruption against Erdogan's party.
Human Rights Watch is concerned about these recent developments and fears that the large number of arrests and prosecutions will lead journalists to shy away from criticizing the government. Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch, also fears that the government is using the Ergenekon case to punish journalists and is less concerned with punishing the terrorists behind the group's violent acts.
I learned a lot researching this topic. I always believed Erdogan to be a decent prime minister. Little did I know about his party's anti-secularist activities, such as pushing the military out of its role as a "guardian of the country's secular governing tradition." Erdogan's party has linked the pro-secularist Ergenekon organization to the Turkish military. In 2010, dozens of officers were arrested on grounds of terrorism. And now, in 2011, the government is arresting journalists. I should not go as far as concluding that the Ergenekon case is only serving the interests of the AK Party, but it is obvious that Erdogan does have a vital interest in keeping the military and the press from interrupting his efforts to reinstate an Islamic-oriented government. Although Erdogan prefers the term "Muslim democracy." Democracy...yeah right.
