Tweet
WATCHDOG GROUP: TURKEY, SERBIA JOURNALISTS' SITUATION CAUSES CONCERN
Editor & Publisher
Feb 6 2007
VIENNA, Austria A regional media freedom watchdog said Tuesday it
is deeply concerned about the worsening situation for journalists in
southeastern Europe following the recent murder of an ethnic Armenian
journalist in Turkey.
Hrant Dink was gunned down in broad daylight Jan. 19 outside his
bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper, Agos. A 17-year-old Turkish
nationalist has been charged with his death.
Dink's murder "shows once again that journalists may easily become
victims in the fight for press freedom and freedom of speech,"
the Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organization, or SEEMO,
said in a statement.
SEEMO, a network of editors, media executives and journalists in
southeastern Europe, said Dink's killing was a reminder that there
are still a number of unsolved cases of journalists killed in the
region because of their reporting, including three in Serbia. In the
statement, SEEMO called on Serbian officials to investigate those
murders, one of which it said dates back to 1994.
SEEMO also said it was alarmed by criminal defamation charges
laid against Dogan Harman, publisher and editor-in-chief of the
Turkish-Cypriot newspaper Kibrisli in December 2006.
"SEEMO believes that criminal defamation and insult laws are an
anachronism that should be removed from every legal system," the
statement said.
In addition, SEEMO also said it was concerned by the Romanian
Constitutional Court's decision to annul a parliamentary decision
removing defamation from the country's criminal code.
"SEEMO strongly condemns these threats and attacks, as well as any
government or state action that restricts the work and movement of
journalists," Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO's secretary general, said in
the statement.
Editor & Publisher
Feb 6 2007
VIENNA, Austria A regional media freedom watchdog said Tuesday it
is deeply concerned about the worsening situation for journalists in
southeastern Europe following the recent murder of an ethnic Armenian
journalist in Turkey.
Hrant Dink was gunned down in broad daylight Jan. 19 outside his
bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper, Agos. A 17-year-old Turkish
nationalist has been charged with his death.
Dink's murder "shows once again that journalists may easily become
victims in the fight for press freedom and freedom of speech,"
the Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organization, or SEEMO,
said in a statement.
SEEMO, a network of editors, media executives and journalists in
southeastern Europe, said Dink's killing was a reminder that there
are still a number of unsolved cases of journalists killed in the
region because of their reporting, including three in Serbia. In the
statement, SEEMO called on Serbian officials to investigate those
murders, one of which it said dates back to 1994.
SEEMO also said it was alarmed by criminal defamation charges
laid against Dogan Harman, publisher and editor-in-chief of the
Turkish-Cypriot newspaper Kibrisli in December 2006.
"SEEMO believes that criminal defamation and insult laws are an
anachronism that should be removed from every legal system," the
statement said.
In addition, SEEMO also said it was concerned by the Romanian
Constitutional Court's decision to annul a parliamentary decision
removing defamation from the country's criminal code.
"SEEMO strongly condemns these threats and attacks, as well as any
government or state action that restricts the work and movement of
journalists," Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO's secretary general, said in
the statement.