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US Department of State expresses concern over detention of journalists in Turkey

Other News Materials 4 March 2011 16:27 (UTC +04:00)
A spokesman with the U.S. Department of State has said a recent series of arrests of journalists in Turkey caused concern about the freedom of press in the country
US Department of State expresses concern over detention of journalists in Turkey

A spokesman of the U.S. Department of State has said a recent series of arrests of journalists in Turkey caused concern about the freedom of press in the country, Anadolu News Agency reported.

"We have concerns about trends in Turkey, as we have indicated publicly. We continue to engage Turkish officials on these developments and we will follow these cases very closely," Philip Crowley told a daily press briefing.

Several journalists, including Nedim Sener and Ahmet Sik, were detained by the Turkish police on Thursday under an investigation into what came to be known as Ergenekon in Turkey, an alleged criminal network plotting to foment chaos to prepare the groundwork for a military takeover.

Yesterday's arrests came a week after another set of arrests of ODA TV site administrators Soner Yalcin, Baris Terkoglu and Baris Pehlivan.

Crowley said the State Department followed very closely developments in Turkey as part of "the U.S. assessment of human rights of Turkey and every other country in the world."

"We urge that any investigations or prosecutions proceed in a transparent manner, and we will continue to engage Turkey and encourage an independent, pluralistic media. It's critical to a healthy democracy. And we will continue our assessments of global press freedoms in our annual Human Rights Report," he said.

The European Union's enlargement commissioner Stefan Fule also expressed concern over the arrests in EU candidate Turkey.

"The Commission is following with concern the recent police actions against journalists, including the arrests [on Thursday] and others last week [...]," Fule said in a written statement issued on Thursday.

Fule said the European Commission had in its progress report highlighted the high number of court cases against journalists and "undue pressure on the media" which he said undermined freedom of the press in practice.

"Turkish law does not sufficiently guarantee freedom of expression in line with the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights," Fule said.

"Freedom of expression and freedom of the media are fundamental principles which should be upheld in all modern democracies. As a candidate country, we expect Turkey to implement such core democratic principles and enable varied, pluralistic debate in public space. Turkey urgently needs to amend its legal framework to improve the exercise of freedom of the press in practice and in a significant manner," he said.

Another European reaction came from Helene Flautre, co-chairman of the Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee, saying she had "deep concerns" over the detention of journalist under the Ergenekon case.

"It is hard to believe that Sener and Sik have ties with nationalist movements like the Ergenekon coup plotters," Flautre said.

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