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Reporters without borders (press release)
Aug 23 2012
Journalists targeted by virulent smear campaign
Published on Thursday 23 August 2012.
Reporters Without Borders is very disturbed by the aggressive smear
campaign that the Islamist and nationalist daily Yeni Akit (New
Agreement) and its website, Habervaktim.com, have been waging in
recent days against four leading journalists - Ali Bayramoglu, Cengiz
Candar, Hasan Cemal and Yasemin Congar - because of their views on
Turkey's Kurdish issue. Politicians are also being attacked.
"By targeting people committed to tolerance and peace, this campaign
is trying to block any evolution in Turkish society," Reporters
Without Borders said. "Experience has shown the degree to which this
kind of prejudiced, xenophobic and paranoid discourse is not just
harmful but also dangerous. Words have meaning and the accusations
levelled against these journalists expose them to real peril. This
virulent hate campaign must stop at once and everything possible must
be done to protect its targets."
Yeni Akit has been attacking the well-known columnist Ali Bayramoglu
for several weeks, accusing him of being an Armenian who "defends
Armenian ideas with a racist basis." A defender of minority rights and
friend of Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian newspaper editor murdered
in 2007, Bayramoglu has been branded by Yeni Akit as a "despicable
enemy of the Turks' and as one who "even hides the fact that he is
Armenian from his friends."
Alluding to the armed separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the
newspaper said Bayramoglu's "support for the terrorist organization"
had been demonstrated by his participation in a conference in London
entitled "In search of solutions to the Kurdish issue."
The 10 August issue of Yeni Akit described Cengiz Candar and Hasan
Cemal as enthusiastic PKK propagandists and supporters of the Kurdish
separatist cause. An article headlined "Sakik's bombs," supposedly
based on a letter from Semdin Sakik, a jailed former PKK leader who
has renounced his previous loyalties, said the PKK regarded them as
"very valuable" assets.
"As [Cemal] was not allowed to visit Imrali [the prison where PKK
leader Abdullah Öcalan is being held], he went to Qandil [the area
just inside northern Iraq that is a PKK base]," the article said,
adding that he has "glorified the Öcalan-Karayilan duo." Yeni Akit
went on to claim that Candar "surpasses PKK fanatics in heaping praise
on the organization and its leaders."
Such allegations evoke painful memories within the media. Candar and
two other journalists, Nazli Ilicak and Mehmet Ali Birand, were fired
in February 1997, during the last military intervention in Turkish
politics, after "statements" by Sakik appeared in several secularist
newspapers.
It subsequently turned out that these "revelations' were orchestrated
by the armed forces high command, most of who members are now charged
in the investigation into alleged attempts to destabilize the current
civilian government.
A petition entitled "We demand justice" has been launched by a number
of intellectuals and journalists including well-known conservatives
such as Hilal Kaplan, Mehmet Bekaroglu, Ömer Faruk Gergerligolu and
Emine Uçak Erdogan. It criticizes Yeni Akit's "irresponsible
attitude," demands an end to the intimidation campaign and urges the
media to respect professional ethics.
The journalists' union TGC and the human rights group IHD have asked
the police to protect the journalists concerned. Candar and Bayramoglu
have announced their intention to sue Yeni Akit.
The demands of Turkey's Kurdish minority continue to be one of the
most sensitive issues for the Turkish media to cover. The crackdown on
peaceful Kurdish activists and Kurdish media has intensified in recent
months and the trial of 44 pro-Kurdish journalists, of whom 36 are in
preventive detention, is due to open on 10 September.
Tension has increased since mid-July, when the PKK launched a major
offensive in Turkey after Kurds took control of several towns in
northern Syria.
http://en.rsf.org/turkey-journalists-targeted-by-virulent-23-08-2012,43270.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Aug 23 2012
Journalists targeted by virulent smear campaign
Published on Thursday 23 August 2012.
Reporters Without Borders is very disturbed by the aggressive smear
campaign that the Islamist and nationalist daily Yeni Akit (New
Agreement) and its website, Habervaktim.com, have been waging in
recent days against four leading journalists - Ali Bayramoglu, Cengiz
Candar, Hasan Cemal and Yasemin Congar - because of their views on
Turkey's Kurdish issue. Politicians are also being attacked.
"By targeting people committed to tolerance and peace, this campaign
is trying to block any evolution in Turkish society," Reporters
Without Borders said. "Experience has shown the degree to which this
kind of prejudiced, xenophobic and paranoid discourse is not just
harmful but also dangerous. Words have meaning and the accusations
levelled against these journalists expose them to real peril. This
virulent hate campaign must stop at once and everything possible must
be done to protect its targets."
Yeni Akit has been attacking the well-known columnist Ali Bayramoglu
for several weeks, accusing him of being an Armenian who "defends
Armenian ideas with a racist basis." A defender of minority rights and
friend of Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian newspaper editor murdered
in 2007, Bayramoglu has been branded by Yeni Akit as a "despicable
enemy of the Turks' and as one who "even hides the fact that he is
Armenian from his friends."
Alluding to the armed separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the
newspaper said Bayramoglu's "support for the terrorist organization"
had been demonstrated by his participation in a conference in London
entitled "In search of solutions to the Kurdish issue."
The 10 August issue of Yeni Akit described Cengiz Candar and Hasan
Cemal as enthusiastic PKK propagandists and supporters of the Kurdish
separatist cause. An article headlined "Sakik's bombs," supposedly
based on a letter from Semdin Sakik, a jailed former PKK leader who
has renounced his previous loyalties, said the PKK regarded them as
"very valuable" assets.
"As [Cemal] was not allowed to visit Imrali [the prison where PKK
leader Abdullah Öcalan is being held], he went to Qandil [the area
just inside northern Iraq that is a PKK base]," the article said,
adding that he has "glorified the Öcalan-Karayilan duo." Yeni Akit
went on to claim that Candar "surpasses PKK fanatics in heaping praise
on the organization and its leaders."
Such allegations evoke painful memories within the media. Candar and
two other journalists, Nazli Ilicak and Mehmet Ali Birand, were fired
in February 1997, during the last military intervention in Turkish
politics, after "statements" by Sakik appeared in several secularist
newspapers.
It subsequently turned out that these "revelations' were orchestrated
by the armed forces high command, most of who members are now charged
in the investigation into alleged attempts to destabilize the current
civilian government.
A petition entitled "We demand justice" has been launched by a number
of intellectuals and journalists including well-known conservatives
such as Hilal Kaplan, Mehmet Bekaroglu, Ömer Faruk Gergerligolu and
Emine Uçak Erdogan. It criticizes Yeni Akit's "irresponsible
attitude," demands an end to the intimidation campaign and urges the
media to respect professional ethics.
The journalists' union TGC and the human rights group IHD have asked
the police to protect the journalists concerned. Candar and Bayramoglu
have announced their intention to sue Yeni Akit.
The demands of Turkey's Kurdish minority continue to be one of the
most sensitive issues for the Turkish media to cover. The crackdown on
peaceful Kurdish activists and Kurdish media has intensified in recent
months and the trial of 44 pro-Kurdish journalists, of whom 36 are in
preventive detention, is due to open on 10 September.
Tension has increased since mid-July, when the PKK launched a major
offensive in Turkey after Kurds took control of several towns in
northern Syria.
http://en.rsf.org/turkey-journalists-targeted-by-virulent-23-08-2012,43270.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress