113th anniversary of the abolition of censorship Press professional organizations such as the Journalists Union of Turkey, Turkish Journalists Association, Press Council, and Turkish Journalists Federation made statements on the 113th anniversary of the abolition of censorship. The common point of the statements was “a Turkey where journalists are not targeted, fired, detained, or arrested for their thoughts and news”.
The Journalists Union of Turkey shared a brief opinion on Twitter, saying, “We are in no position to celebrate Press Day while journalists are prevented from reporting freely and society is prevented from receiving news freely. Every day is a day of struggle until we regain our holiday. Down with tyranny, long live freedom!”
Press Council: a Table of Shame
The Press Council stated that July 24 is no longer ‘Press Day’ but ‘Press Freedom Struggle Day’.
“Our media, which celebrated July 24 as ‘Press Day’ for many years, has now fallen far from those days under government pressure,” they said. The Press Council made the following statement:
“113 years ago in the Ottoman Empire, with the declaration of the Second Constitutional Era, the period of tyranny was ended, and the press gained freedom. Freedom of expression and press, which were constitutionally and legally guaranteed during the Republican period, were occasionally attempted to be obstructed by politicians who could not internalize democracy due to their lust for power.
“Today, the situation is much worse with the practices of the political power that has taken full control of 95 percent of the media through political and economic pressures. Large media groups changed hands using public resources; honorable journalists who did not submit were dismissed; “a puppet press” was created through funding. The judiciary became politicized and became a tool for restricting press freedom.
“In such an environment, July 24 certainly cannot be celebrated as “Journalists and Press Day”, and we are not celebrating it. The media’s submission to politics and loss of freedom is unacceptable and should not be accepted. The public’s right to receive news, freedom of expression, and press freedom can never be obstructed and should not be obstructed. If there is democracy in Turkey, this process cannot continue like this and should not continue.
“As the Press Council, we believe that July 24, which we cannot celebrate as a holiday, should be ‘Press Freedom Struggle Day’. We reiterate that we are determined and resolved to continue our struggle to make our media the ‘fourth power’ again alongside the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches, as in true democracies.”
TGC Emphasizes ‘Free Journalism’
In its statement, the Turkish Journalists Association addressed the heavy pressures on journalists and journalists. Noting that censorship is intensifying day by day, the TGS made the following statement:
“Given that there has been no change in the conditions for the press today, that many journalists are in prisons, and that obstacles to freedom of expression have not been removed, we use the definition of ‘Day of Struggle for Press Freedom’ as a customary expression for July 24.
“When the country reaches the days when accessing free news is not a crime, journalists will certainly be able to celebrate “Press Day” again.
“Under current conditions, in an environment where there is snowballing unemployment in the press sector, the public’s access to news is narrowing day by day, and the public’s freedom to receive news is being hindered, we as the Turkish Journalists Association will continue to try to explain that news is not a crime. We want it to be known that we will voice our struggle for free journalism not only on July 24 but on every platform.”
TGF: July 24 is not a Holiday, but a Day of Solidarity
Yılmaz Karaca, President of the Turkish Journalists Federation, stated that censorship has not ‘really’ been abolished today and that July 24 should be celebrated as Press Freedom and Solidarity Day instead of Press Day.
Karaca’s statement is summarized as follows:
“While we celebrate the abolition of censorship on one hand, on the other hand, censorship unfortunately continues directly or indirectly today. We once again demand the return of the freedoms of our colleagues who are detained due to journalistic activities, which we believe have been unjustly taken from them.
“A free press that performs its duty with an impartial understanding, respecting social values and with a sense of responsibility, is the greatest guarantee of protecting the democratic social order. At this point we have reached today, the struggle for existence that our local press in particular is facing causes us to have concerns about the future on behalf of our press. The local press, which is the voice and ear of the people, should be kept alive.”
| About July 24 |
| Between the First and Second Constitutional Eras, during the period known as the Autocracy period, newspapers could only be published after passing the inspection of censorship officials. Following the declaration of the Second Constitutional Era by Abdülhamit II in 1908, on July 24, newspapers were published for the first time without censorship control. In 1948, upon the suggestion of Refik Halid Karay in the Board of Directors of the Turkish Journalists’ Association (TGC), ‘July 24’ was celebrated as ‘Press Day’ for 22 years. Due to the pressures following the March 12, 1971 military coup reminiscent of the Autocracy period, TGC decided to remove the term Press Day. Since 1971, July 24 has been commemorated as ‘Press Freedom Day’ instead of ‘Press Day’. |
Source: Bianet.org
