In 2016, the number of arrested journalists rose from 31 to 131, a record high for the last five years. 56 journalists were attacked, and 118 others were threatened. 179 media outlets were shut down by statutory decrees, and 10,000 media workers were left jobless.

With the government’s draft constitutional amendment, which if approved, would bring with it a reinforced presidential system, 2016 was a year of social polarization.

Following the July 15 attempted coup, the government has expanded its repression of critical media to an unbearable extent. The State of Emergency, declared in the wake of the coup attempt, has been the target of harsh criticism by domestic and international human rights organization while also tightening the noose on European Union accession negotiations, which have been ongoing for 15 years.

The quarterly 2016 BİA Media Monitoring Reports demonstrate that the number of journalists behind bars rose from 31 to 131 in one year. The report shows that seeking one’s rights through appeals to the Constitutional Court (AYM) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) was no longer a feasible possibility. It also reveals how statutory decrees and other administrative instruments were wielded as “the Sword of Damocles” against oppositional media and society in general.

Number of arrested journalists rises from 31 to 131

While 31 journalists were behind bars at the start of 2016, the figure was 131 by January 2017 as a result of operations carried out against Kurdish media, Cumhuriyet daily and allegedly pro-Gülen Community media. 18 of the 131 were convicted, while 7 others still stood trial and 106 journalists were under investigation.

81 of the journalists were arrested as part of the investigation into the “Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ)”, while 31 members of the Kurdish media were arrested for alleged associations with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

These media workers are behind bars for crimes related to “an illegal organization”, “terrorism” or “insulting state authorities” under the Turkish Criminal Code and Anti-Terror Law. 11 journalists, columnists and editorial authorities of Cumhuriyet daily were arrested on charges of “aiding or propagandizing for FETÖ/PKK”.

In addition, five journalists were arrested on charge of “being a member of an illegal organization” _Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP), Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP-C), Resistance Movement_ and one journalist on charge being a member of the organizations “Ergenekon Organization” and Turkish Revenge Brigade. 1 journalist from the state run Anadolu Agency (AA) and another one from Yury newspaper were arrested for “”defaming the president” and “insulting state authorities”.

In 2015, 22 journalists were behind bars, as well as 59 and 68 in 2013 and 2012 respectively.

Record number of detentions in 2016

In 2016, at least 201 journalists and media workers were taken into custody while on strike. Due to “security policies” applied in the last five years, the number of journalists taken into custody has reached 463.

While 31 journalists were taken into custody in 2012, the figure has been steadily increasing: 39 were taken into custody in 2013; 72 to 2014; 120 in 2015 and 201 in 2016, a record high.

56 attacks, 118 threats

In 2016, 56 of the media workers who were on duty in the field were attacked. In the same year, 6 media outlets became targets of attacks, and 1 Syrian journalist was killed. 118 journalists and 5 media outlets were threatened.

In 2015, 3 Syrian journalists and 1 columnist from Turkey on duty in the southeastern provinces of Antep and Şanlıurfa were targets of violence, as well as, 64 media workers, 1 columnist and 4 media outlets.

In the last five years, four Syrian journalists and a columnist from Turkey were attacked and lost their lives. 495 media representatives and 13 media outlets were also targeted by violence. From the start of the Gezi Resistance in 2013, through 2014, 328 media workers were targets of violence, mostly from security forces. There were 46 attacks in 2012, 186 attacks in 2013, 145 attacks in 2014 and 73 attacks in 2015.

17 journalists were Erdoğan “suspects”

In 2016, 16 people, including 12 journalists, were sentenced to 15 years and 4 days in prison (6 years and 2 months deferred) and a punitive fine of 10,850 euro on the charge of “Defaming the President,” in accordance with Article 299 of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK). 31 people, including 13 journalists, were acquitted of similar charges.

Despite criticism from the Council of the European Union, Venice Commission and the European Union, Article 299 of the Criminal Code was applied against journalists, human rights defenders, academics and students. At the same time the Constitutional Court reached the controversial verdict that Article 299 does not violate the Constitution.

Article 299, which began to be applied against critics of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after he was elected President in August 2014, has led to 25 arrests (17 journalists), 26 years and 22 days in total prison sentences (6 years and 2 months deferred) and a 10,850 euro punitive fine as of January 1, 2017.

In 2016, seven people, including one journalist and one caricaturist, stood trial for “Insulting Erdoğan due to the performance of his public duty” in accordance with Article 125 of TCK. They were sentenced to 6 years, 1 month and 24 days in prison (2 years, 3 months and 2 days deferred), as well as a punitive fine of 4,480 euro. Two journalists were acquitted of the charges based on Article 125, and one MP was fined 1,806 euro in non-pecuniary damages.

In 2015, 9 people, including 5 journalists, were sentenced to 10 years, 8 months and 22 days in prison on charges related to Article 299.19 people including 14 journalists and 2 caricaturists were sentenced to 10 years, 9 months and 27 days in prison for crimes under Article 125.

29 broadcast bans, 179 media outlets closed

Arrests of members of the media and the closure of opposition media outlets in the wake of the July 15 coup attempt, as well as the State of Emergency that followed, have spelled the death of the rule of law.

778 press cards were cancelled, the property of 54 journalists was confiscated, 29 broadcast bans were imposed, 179 media outlets were closed by statutory decrees, the passports of 46 journalists were cancelled and three cases of accreditation discrimination were reported. In addition, 300 Twitter accounts were closed, while 33 Youtube and 79 Instagram links, 323 news reports and 76 websites were censored.

In 2015, 6 broadcast bans were imposed and 5 confidentiality orders were issued. There were 10 cases of accreditation discrimination, while 118 websites, 353 Twitter accounts, 399 articles, 21 TV outlets and 2 journalists were censored. 12 videos, 7 books, 5 comic books, 4 films, 2 magazines, 2 journalists, 1 documentary film, 1 brochures, 1 panels, 1 commemoration, 1 election film, 1 banner and one painting was also censored.

Including the 7 broadcast bans imposed in 2014, 43 broadcast bans have been imposed in the last three years, which would be in effect temporarily or during certain investigations in order to prevent questioning topics of high relevance for the main agenda in Turkey.

Anti-Terror Law applied; 13 journalists sentenced to 32 years 8 months in prison.

Following the July 15 coup attempt, media representatives, along with human rights defenders and politicians, were subjected to legal actions, especially as the Kurdish issue was reduced to a problem of “terrorism”. In 2016, 13 journalists were sentenced to 32 years, 8 months and 3 days in prison in accordance with the Anti-Terror Law (TMK), which was made an instrument of negotiations between Turkey and the EU on the visa waiver.

By the end of 2016, 73 journalists, 38 of whom were from Özgür Gündem daily, were sentenced to 547 years and 6 months in prison.

In 2015, 3 journalists were sentenced to 6 years, 3 months and 22 days in prison (1 year, 6 months and 22 days deferred) and punitive fines of 6,200 euro. 26 journalists were still on trial facing 337 years and 6 months in prison. 2 journalists were acquitted.

75 years, 6 months imprisonment for crimes of “spying”, “terrorist organization”, “defamation”.

In 2016, 3 journalists were sentenced to 12 years and 6 months in prison on the charge of “publishing documents regarding security of the state”. 2 journalists were sentenced to 55 years on charges of “being a member of an illegal organization” while another journalist was given a punitive fine of 540 euro for “breaching confidentiality”. 22 journalists were acquitted of the charge of “inciting people to hatred and hostility”. In addition, 22 journalists and one website officer were sentenced to 8 years and 2 days in prison and fined 25,740 euro for “defamation”. 5 journalists were fined non-pecuniary damages in the amount of 7,232 euro. 4 journalists were acquitted of similar charges, while the cases of 2 others were dropped due to conditional pardons.

The 2015 sentences were mostly on charges of “defamation” and “attack on personal rights”: 15 journalists and one website were sentenced to 5 years, 8 months and 17 days in prison and to punitive fines of 12,670 euro (450 euro deferred), and 3 journalists were fined compensation of damages in the amount of 3,620 euro. In addition, 1 journalist was sentenced to 10 months in prison on the charge of “insulting security forces” and another to 1 year and 15 days for “slander”.

Constitutional Court Steps Back: 10 times fewer verdicts

Though taking a stance clearly in favor of freedom of speech in the first half of the year like in the cases of journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül’s, the Constitutional Court has stepped back after its two members were arrested in the wake of the attempted coup on July 15. Ruling on the individual applications by 2 journalists, 1 educator and 1 worker, the Constitutional Court fined the state 1,863 euro in damages.

Last year however, the court ruling on 12 individual applications including applications by 6 journalists, 1 writer, 1radio and website officer had fined the state 11,063 euro in damages.

ECtHR fines Turkey 401,180 euro in 5 years for “squelching” journalists

In 2016, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) sentenced Turkey to compensate 27,590 euro in damages for violating freedom of expression in 11 cases 7 of which were brought by journalists. The court also fined the state 2,000 euro in damages for “false imprisonment of a journalist”.

In 2015, the court sentenced Turkey to compensate 42,043 euro in damages in 26 cases including the cases of 5 journalists, 3 legists, 1 politician and 1 retired soldier while in 2014, 135,612 euro in damages were compensated in total including the cases of 9 journalists and 1 media organ. While in 2013, Turkey was fined 198,935 euro in damages in cases including those from 2 journalists and 11 media organs, the amount was 78,581 euro in cases brought by 9 individuals including 5 journalists and 1 organization.

This means in cases brought by 23 journalists, 12 media organs and 52 individuals before ECtHR in the last five years, Turkey was fined 401,180 euro in damages.

RTÜK fine TV and radio outlets 4,094,000 euro

In 2016, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) imposed 50 warnings, 112 penalty fines and 2 broadcast bans on TV outlets and 7 warnings as well as 11 penalty fines on radio outlets. The penalty fines imposed on TV and radio outlets for violating broadcasting principle reached the sum of 4,005,888 euro.

In the previous year, the council council had imposed 69 warnings and 168 punitive fines on TV outlets and 4 warnings and 4 penalty fines for radio outlets. The punitive fines imposed had reached the sum of 2,550,000 euro in 2015 while in 2014, 78 warnings and 245 penalty fines were imposed on TV and 12 warnings as well as 7 penalty fines were imposed on radio outlets making 4,779,000 euro in total.

This means that RTÜK has imposed 197 warnings and 534 penalty fines on TV as well as 23 warnings and 22 penalty fines on radio outlets in the last three years while the penalty fines imposed in last five years have reached 6,625,500 euro in total.

Statutory decrees leave 10,000 people in media sector unemployed

In 2016, 2,708 journalists and media workers were fired or forced to resign. However Turkish Journalists’ Association (TGC) has announced the number of those left unemployed due to closures of 179 media outlets as 10,000 while in 2015, 348, in 2014, 339 and in 2013, 143 journalists, writers and media workers were fired or forced to resign. (EÖ/HK/DG)

BİA MEDIA MONITORING REPORT – 2016

Erol Önderoğlu

İstanbul – BIA News Desk

17 February 2017

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The result of a “yes” or “no” vote in the April constitutional referendum will not spark a civil war in Turkey, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said, urging politicians to refrain from using accusatory and discriminative language throughout the campaign process. 

“I never think there is such a risk,” he told private broadcaster NTV in an interview late Feb. 16. 

His words came after a local Justice and Development Party (AKP) official claimed that a civil war would erupt in the event that people would vote against the shift to an executive presidency. 

“If a different result emerges, it would introduce a more oppressive government. Public reaction then would be stronger, and it is right to see such a reaction. But deeming this a civil war, talking about a civil war is not right. Politics should not be based on fear,” he said. 

AKP Manisa provincial deputy head Ozan Erdem had to resign upon the party’s demand, which Kılıçdaroğlu welcomed. “This was a grave statement. But what made me pleased was the reaction shown by AKP officials who demanded the resignation of this person,” he said.  


Not war but referendum

Kılıçdaroğlu said the Turkish people will determine their future on April 16 and reiterated that no war would erupt as a result of either of the votes. Stressing that some AKP officials were trying to instill fear in people by suggesting that terror would escalate if the changes were rejected, he called on all politicians to use a more careful and inclusive language to embrace all citizens regardless of their votes.  

“We are going to a referendum. Of course, there will be those who will vote ‘yes’ and those who will vote ‘no.’ Politicians should not blame those voting ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ This can create serious division within the society and cause provocations,” he stressed. 


Undecided votes  

“The AKP and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) alliance cannot convince people why they should endorse the charter changes, while the CHP is very clear in making its case. According to some surveys, the ‘no’ votes are slightly ahead of the ‘yes,’ but undecided votes remain high,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.  

He said he expected that MHP’s loyal adherents would vote against the changes because of their nationalist sentiments.  

Raqqa ops would be a mistake 

On discussions whether Turkey should continue its military offensive inside Syria toward Raqqa, he urged the government not to go further south after capturing al-Bab from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

“Should the Turkish army go the Raqqa or no? Let’s put it to referendum. This is a vital issue. These are our children who are being martyred. If they are keen on continuing, they should send their own children,” he said.

February/17/2017

HDN

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According to the WHO, the eastern provinces of Batman, Hakkari, Siirt and Iğdır, the western province of Afyon, the southeastern province of Gaziantep, the Central Anatolian province of Karaman and the southern province of Isparta all suffer from bad air. The two remaining cities in the top 10 are Tetovo in Macedonia at number one and Tuzla in Bosnia and Herzegovina at number five.

If the European list excludes Turkey, the top 10 reads Tetovo, Tuzla, Skopje (Macedonia), Zywiec (Poland), Pszczyna (Poland), Dimitrovgad (Bulgaria), Pljevlja (Montenegro), Rybnik (Poland), Bitola (Macedonia) and Wodzislaw Slaski (Poland).

Tetovo in Macedonia has the worst PM2.5 air pollution in Europe, according to the WHO data.

The data showed that Zabol in Iran has the worst air overall. Zabol is followed by Gwalior and Allahabad in India and Riyadh and al-Jubail in Saudi Arabia. Ten cities from India, four cities from China, three cities from Saudi Arabia and one city each from Cameroon and Pakistan constituted the top 20 list.

When the list of selected global cities with most polluted air in Europe is examined, Istanbul ranks first. Istanbul is followed by Warsaw, Budapest, Bucharest and Jerusalem.

According to WHO, billions of people in cities around the world are exposed to dangerous air, but pollution levels vary. The WHO data showed that some 12.6 million people die each year due to air and environment pollution.

When cities in the United States and Canada are examined, the state of California dominates the list with most polluted cities. The highest ranking goes to Visalia and Porterville.

In North and South America, Coyhaique in Chile ranks worst, while Lima in Peru comes out worst for major cities in the region.

Bamenda in Cameroon tops the pollution list for Africa – which ranking eighth worst in the world – while Kampala in Uganda ranks worst for major African cities.

By contrast, cities in New Zealand and Australia at least match the WHO’s recommended levels.

The Indian capital Delhi remains the worst major Asian city for PM2.5 air pollution. The worst Middle Eastern city on the list is Riyadh.

February/15/2017

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​The moment journalist Ahmet Şık, held in terror-related pre-trial detention for 46 days, gets to see his daughter during 1st court hearing on 15 February 2017.

More than a thousand sign petition in support of English PEN’s former writer-in-residence and other writers unlawfully detained in Turkey

Please take a moment to share the petition with friends and colleagues and on social media – #FreeAhmetŞık

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfdngjcprJ_0RcRiwHoTR5H1oa8QOdAPCFUx-cxrEVLSbseeg/viewform

Leading writers and PEN members including Hari Kunzru, Roberto Saviano, Ali Smith, Sarah Waters and Irvine Welsh are among the hundreds of people to have added their voices to a petition calling for the release of renowned investigative journalist Ahmet Şık.

Following his detention on 29 December 2016, Ahmet Şık was charged and arrested and is now being held in pre-trial detention. Şık is accused of making terrorist propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Gülen movement (FETÖ), which the government has blamed for the failed coup attempt in July 2016. He has also been charged under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code for ‘publicly denigrating the Republic of Turkey, its judiciary, military and security forces’.

Fellow investigative journalists Khadija Ismayilova, Lydia Cacho, Sandra Rodriguez Nieto, and Jerome Starkey – themselves no strangers to being persecuted for their work – are also among those to have added their support. Ismayilova, who knows Şık personally, described him as ‘one of the brightest minds in Turkey’. Other key supporters include Adonis, Hanan Al Shaykh, Monica Ali, Margaret Atwood, Julian Barnes, JM Coetzee, Ariel Dorfman, Victoria Glendinning, Arthur Golden, Sir David Hare, Josef Haslinger, Elfriede Jelinek, AL Kennedy, Ian McEwan, Andrew Motion, Neel Mukherjee, Chigozie Obioma, Ihor Pavlyuk, Philippe Sands, Elif Shafak, Andrew Solomon (PEN America), George Szirtes, Mario Vargas Llosa and Ai Weiwei.

The petition urges the Turkish authorities to release Şık, whom signatories believe to be held on politically motivated charges, immediately and unconditionally and calls for him to be granted full access to his lawyers and his family.

Describing how Şık was ‘initially held in solitary confinement in filthy conditions in Metris Prison…and reportedly denied access to clean drinking water for three days’, supporters are also calling on the authorities to ensure that he is not subject to any ill-treatment while he remains in detention.

The petition continues:

The detention of award-winning investigative journalist Ahmet Şık once again highlights the growing post-coup crackdown in Turkey.

In March 2016, Ahmet Şık launched his report Journalism Under Siege (published by English PEN, Free Word and ARTICLE 19, in partnership with the Committee to Protect Journalists), detailing the ‘unprecedented crisis’ facing Turkey’s independent media. Since then, and particularly in the wake of the attempted coup, the situation for writers and journalists has deteriorated even further. In the report, Şık named 39 imprisoned journalists: that number more than tripled over the course of 2016 and, at the time of writing, over 150 journalists and writers are now detained in Turkey, including Şık himself.

While recognising the right of the Turkish authorities to bring those responsible for crimes committed during the attempted coup to justice, we call on the Turkish authorities to safeguard freedom of expression, human rights and respect their obligations under international law during the declared state of emergency, and to release Ahmet Şık and all journalists and writers held solely in connection with their peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression.

Support the campaign :

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfdngjcprJ_0RcRiwHoTR5H1oa8QOdAPCFUx-cxrEVLSbseeg/viewform

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Turkey’s unemployment rate rose to 12.1 percent in November 2016, marking the highest such rate since March 2010, official data showed on Feb. 15.

The number of unemployed persons aged 15 years and above rose to 3.7 million in November 2016, 590,000 more than the same period of the previous year, pushing the unemployment rate to 12.1 percent with a 1.6 percentage point increase, according to Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) data.

While the youth unemployment rate, including persons aged 15-24, was 22.6 percent with a 3.5 percentage point increase, the unemployment rate for persons aged 15-64 was 12.3 percent with a 1.6 percentage point increase.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was also announced at 11.8 percent with a 0.1 percentage point increase.

The number of employed people was 27.07 million in November 2016, up 391,000 from a year earlier. The labor force participation rate (LFPR) was 52.1 percent, up 0.9 percentage point or 980,000.

According to analysts, the rise in the participation to the labor force had an impact pushing up the unemployment rate, noting that a declining trend in the jobless rate was not expected in the short term.

“The limited recovery in the industrial employment in the fourth quarter of 2016 was in compliance with the slight recovery in economic activity. However, we do not expect a decrease in the unemployment rate in the short term until the yields of the recently-launched ‘employment incentives’ are seen,” said İş Investment Economist Muammer Kömürcüoğlu, as quoted by Reuters.

The government’s “employment mobilization” campaign, which will start in early March, is planned to create 2 million new jobs, according to top officials.

Depending on the extent to which the private sector takes part in the campaign, some decrease can be seen in the unemployment rate, analysts say.

“The change in the participation to the labor force will play a key role. If participation increases, we will see a slight decrease in the unemployment rate. At the end, we do not expect any permanent decline in the unemployment rate until economic activity sees a strong recovery,” said Kömürcüoğlu.

According to TÜİK data, the number of agricultural employment decreased 101,000 persons while the number of non-agricultural employment increased 491,000 persons in this period. According to the distribution of employment by sector; some 18.7 percent was employed in agriculture, 19.6 percent was in industry, 7.4 percent was in construction and 54.2 percent was in services.

Employment in agriculture decreased by 0.6 percentage point, industry decreased by 0.5 percentage point and construction decreased by 0.1 percentage point while services increased by 1.1 percentage point.

February/15/2017

HDP

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“The space for democratic debate in Turkey has shrunk alarmingly following increased judicial harassment of large strata of society, including journalists, members of parliament, academics and ordinary citizens, and government action which has reduced pluralism and led to self-censorhip. This deterioration came about in a very difficult context, but neither the attempted coup, nor other terrorist threats faced by Turkey can justify measures that infringe media freedom and disavow the rule of law to such an extent. The authorities should urgently change course by overhauling criminal legislation and practice, re-develop judicial independence and reaffirm their commitment to protect free speech” said today Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, while publishing a Memorandum on freedom of expression and media freedom in Turkey based on the findings of two visits to the country that he conducted in April and September 2016.
The Commissioner regrets that tangible progress concerning media freedom and freedom of expression which was painstakingly achieved by Turkey in co-operation with the Council of Europe, was halted and reversed in recent years, leading to an already alarming situation at the time of the Commissioner’s visit in April 2016. “In particular, the overly wide application of the concepts of terrorist propaganda and support for a terrorist organisation, including to statements and persons that clearly do not incite violence, and its combination with an overuse of defamation, has put Turkey on a very dangerous path. Legitimate dissent and criticism of government policy is vilified and repressed, thus shrinking the scope of democratic public debate and polarising society.” This situation has significantly worsened under the on-going state of emergency which confers almost limitless discretionary powers to the Turkish executive to apply sweeping measures, including against the media and NGOs, without any evidentiary requirement, in the absence of judicial decisions and on the basis of vague criteria of alleged “connection” to a terrorist organization.

Media pluralism and independence, in particular, have been casualties of these developments characterised notably by the use of state resources to favour pro-governmental media, pervasive internet censorship, arbitrary exclusion of media and journalists, takeover or closure of media outlets critical to the authorities, violence and reprisals against media workers and the incarceration of over 150 journalists.

The Commissioner also underscores that this deterioration goes hand-in-hand with the erosion of the independence and impartiality of the Turkish judiciary. “While this problem affects the whole judiciary, it is in particular the role of the criminal judges of peace that is the most concerning, because these formations have transformed into an instrument of judicial harassment to stifle opposition and legitimate criticism and are now at the origin of some of the most obvious violations of the right to freedom of expression.”

The Commissioner urges the Turkish political leaders in the strongest possible terms to change course and to display the responsibility and tolerance expected in a democratic society. They must redevelop the political will necessary to tackle the very long-standing systemic issues suppressing freedom of expression, including on the Internet, and finally execute the numerous judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, some of which date decades back.

“A first step is to lift the current state of emergency and reverse the numerous unacceptable infringements of freedom of expression, and in particular media freedom and academic freedom, that it engendered. In addition, the Turkish authorities must completely overhaul the Criminal Code and the Anti-Terrorism Law so as to align law and practice with the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. Beyond these deficiencies, it is crucial to change a judicial culture where judges and prosecutors interpret and apply laws in a way that consistently undermines freedom of expression and media freedom in Turkey.”

Full text:

CommDH(2017)5_EN.pdf

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Hurriyet daily scraped an interview with the novelist Orhan Pamuk that was scheduled for publication on Monday.
Al-Monitor reports that Pamuk confirmed that he had spoken at length with Cansu Camlibel, the newspaper’s Washington correspondent. It appears that the interview was canceled because Pamuk has openly sided with “No” in Turkey forthcoming referendum to consolidate Turkey’s constitutional reforms towards a Presidential democracy with limited control from the Parliament.

Dogan Holding that owns Hurriyet has gradually moved to soften its oppositional stand, firing a prime-time anchor Iran Degirmenci from Kanal D TV, allegedly due to his lack of “neutrality.” Other columnists and journalists with a reputation for being critical of the AKP government have followed.

AKP can no longer count on a “yes” vote, with polls suggesting the vote will be tight. The margin appears close with the most recent survey projecting a 2% margin for a yes vote (43,7% no against 45,7% yes).

New Europe

https://www.neweurope.eu/article/hurriyet-cancels-pamuks-interview/

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To understand better what kind of a hell this country is for women, here are some data:

Between 2001 and 2005, there were 13,928 femicides.

Between 2010 and 2015, 232,313 girls between the ages of 16 and 17 were married off.

In 2015 only, 17,789 children between the ages of 15 and 16 gave birth.

In the past years, Turkey always fell behind in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report. In its latest report, among 144 countries, Turkey was ranked 130th. In political participation, Turkey was in 113th place and in economic participation, it stood at 129th place.

In data regarding violence against women, which was collected by the Gezici Research Company, 44.7 percent of women in Turkey are subjected to violence. Among those women who are subjected to violence, 67.8 percent fear their husbands will kill them.

When you review the rate of femicides, you can see that their fears are not unjustified.

We are going through days when violence against women is approved by certain local administrators. For instance, the southeastern province of Gaziantep’s Şahinbey district municipality distributed a marriage guide to newlywed couples which detailed instances when beating up a woman was “required.”

Aylin Nazlıaka, an independent MP from Ankara, took the subject to parliament a couple of days ago. She pointed out that the guide said “the remedy for any women who is deviating from the line is beating.” While you expect local administrators to support the vulnerable, it is surprising that a husband’s beating is listed among the requirements of marriage.

OECD’s survey on women researchers is another face of the state of our women. According to its new data called “Main Science and Technology Indicators (MSTI),” among women researchers, Turkey ranked 11th among 30 countries.

Latvia was first. It is hopeful that Turkey is ahead of many EU countries on this list.

One of them, a young woman scientist of ours, was in Istanbul last week. Canan Dağdeviren, a physics engineer born in 1985, is the first Turkish person selected as a junior fellow at Harvard University. She is a graduate of Ankara’s Hacettepe University’s physics engineering department and has a master’s degree from Istanbul’s Sabancı University. She is an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her invention, named PZT MEH, is shaped like a thin sheet that can be placed directly onto the surface of an organ.

I met her three years ago in Boston, and she has come an incredible long way since them.

Turkey is a country where some women are victims of violence and at the same time are able to shine in the field of science.

February/14/2017

Hürriyet Daily News

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Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has announced that his party will not appeal to the Constitutional Court over the constitutional amendment that will be voted on in a referendum in early April.

“The nation will have the last word,” Kılıçdaroğlu said on Feb. 14 addressing his party’s parliamentary group.

His comments came after the CHP’s harsh criticism of the government-sponsored constitutional amendment prompted speculation that the party may appeal to the top court to cancel it.

The CHP says the proposed constitution violates the principle of the separation of powers and will amount to a “regime change.”

February/14/2017

Hürriyet Daily News

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“The main opposition CHP has slammed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, saying they used a polarizing and divisive language by accusing naysayers of the upcoming referendum of siding with terrorists.

“The president, prime minister, and governmental spokespersons are using a polarizing and divisive language. They should immediately stop this. Where is the national will? Why are you holding this referendum if you are going to denounce those who are going to say ‘no’ to it?” Levent Gök, deputy parliamentary group leader of the CHP, told reporters on Feb. 13.

His comments came after Erdoğan said those who were to vote against the constitutional amendments on the April 16 referendum would mean they stood with the plotters of the July 2016 coup attempt.

Gök stressed that all political parties, including the CHP, stood against the coup plotters on the night of July 15, 2016, adding that it was thanks to their stance and solidarity with the government that helped them reclaim democracy in Turkey. “How can you say all these Mr. President? Was it us who harbored members of FETÖ [Fethullahist Terror Organization]? Was it the CHP that recruited all FETÖ members to state institutions?” Gök said.

He stressed that Erdoğan and Yıldırım’s accusations against the CHP actually reflected the predicament they put themselves in after they realized that the changes had insufficient support.

“People have understood why they will say ‘no.’ The ruling party and the president have failed to explain why people should vote ‘yes.’ This is their problem,” Gök stated. ”

Hürriyet Daily News

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