After Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated, I vowed I would not sit back when journalists are subjected to appalling treatment just for doing their work. I have been vociferous in my support for EU legislation on Strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) and a rapporteur on the Employment Committee opinion concerning the EU Directive on the Protection of Whistleblowers.
In my drive for drawing attention to the abysmal situation and difficulties being faced by a number of investigative journalists around the world, I travelled to Turkey this week to meet investigative journalist Pelin Ünker, her legal team and representatives of journalist organisations.
Pelin Ünker is part of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and in January this year she was sentenced to 13 months in prison and fined for defamation and insult for her reporting on the Paradise Papers. Her findings were published in the newspaper Cumhuriyet, one of Turkey’s oldest publications. She is currently appealing that ruling. Ünker is now facing an additional case based on the same series of articles, concerning the son-in-law of President Erdogan.
Her ‘crime’, like those of other journalists in Turkey is that they get too close to the affairs of the people in power there.
Members of the European Parliament have called on the European Commission to condemn the sentencing of Pelin Ünker and I, together with several MEPs, stated that the sentence is not compatible with a country striving for EU accession.
It is patently clear that the current Turkish administration’s treatment of journalists is outrageous, particularly when considering that Turkey is an aspiring EU Member State country. Media as the Fourth Pillar of Democracy plays an important role in the effective democracy of a country and in Turkey this is clearly missing.
What little remains of its freedom of expression is disappearing very quickly and this week, the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee has recognised and confirmed by its vote that the situation in Turkey in many aspects has deteriorated so much that it recommended the formal suspension of EU accession negotiations to the Commission and Member States.
In its report, the European Parliament Committee insisted that any renewed political engagement between the EU and Turkey should be built on key conditionality provisions concerning respect for democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights.
I have been a part of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee for 15 years and have been following the recent events that have occurred in Turkey with great interest.
Turkey has been severely limiting the freedom of the press for years which has given rise international concern. A concern I share is that as of 2018, 68 journalists are behind bars and thousands of journalists have been forced to resign, lost press credentials, and have had passports revoked and property confiscated. In fact, the lack of visible improvements in freedom of the media in Turkey since the state of emergency was lifted on 18 July 2018 is of great concern.
While this situation is not exclusive to Turkey, Turkey stands out because of the severity of punishment as well as the sheer number of journalists that have been detained as a direct result of their investigative work. Just this week a decision by a Turkish court will lead to the jailing of journalists that worked for Cumhuriyet. When the facts that have been reported are uncontested, it makes the handing down of a prison sentence even more serious.
Journalism is not a crime. Journalism must be respected, protected and given all the tools to operate freely.
The EU is watching as Turkey moves further away from our European values. This week’s vote is testament to the fact that Turkey is moving closer to the edge. This is the thin end of the wedge and what we are witnessing is a gradual, but sure shift towards authoritarian rule.
David Casa MEP