Erdogan rejects criticism over detention of journalists
Der türkische Ministerpräsident Recep Tayyip Erdogan hat Vorwürfe zurückgewiesen, seine Regierung stecke hinter der jüngsten Verhaftungswelle gegen Journalisten in seinem Land. Das Vorgehen gegen die Beschuldigten sei allein Sache der Justiz.
Erdogan told the parliamentary faction of his ruling AKP party in Ankara on Tuesday that his government would not interfere. In recent days, the Istanbul judiciary had several journalists arrested on suspicion of being involved in coup plans against the Erdogan government. As a politician who had himself served time in prison for publicly reading out a poem, Erdogan said he would defend freedom of expression to the end. He was alluding to a prison sentence he had to serve at the end of the 1990s, when quotes from a poem were interpreted as incitement to hatred.
Accusations that his government wanted to put pressure on the press were an insult, Erdogan said. He spoke of a campaign by the opposition and parts of the media to smear the AKP ahead of the parliamentary elections on June 12. According to Erdogan, 27 journalists are currently in prison in Turkey. However, he emphasized that no one is imprisoned because of their journalistic work. It was a matter of accusations of terrorism, sexual offenses or other crimes.
According to a count by journalists' associations, the number of imprisoned journalists is 67 (sda).
Turkey: Journalists and a Controversial Author Arrested in Turkey
