Decline in media freedom ‘’existential threat’’ to democracy

 
The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Nils Muiznieks, issued on Wednesday a stark warning about deterioration in media freedom and freedom of expression in Turkey, saying it “represents an existential threat to Turkish democracy” and calling for measures to restore freedoms, including the lifting of the state of emergency.
 
Muiznieks said the recent decline in freedom of expression came about in a very difficult context — right after a coup attempt and amid deadly attacks by various terrorist groups — but added that “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,” he said, while publishing a detailed memorandum on freedom of expression and media freedom in Turkey.
 
This includes the lifting of the state of emergency and a complete overhaul of the Turkish Criminal Code, including the articles on defamation and insulting the president and on terrorism crimes.
 
“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,” he said. “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.”
 
“Considering the failure of past amendments of these provisions to prevent new human rights violations, the Commissioner considers that many of these provisions need to be simply abrogated. Defamation, in particular of public officials, should no longer be a criminal offence but, where absolutely necessary, could be subject to proportionate civil sanctions only,” says the memorandum, which is based on the findings of two visits to Turkey that he conducted in April and September 2016.
 
The memorandum notes that tangible progress concerning media freedom and freedom of expression, which was painstakingly achieved by Turkey in cooperation with the Council of Europe, was halted and reversed in recent years, leading to an already alarming situation.
 
“In particular, the overly wide application of the concepts of terrorist propaganda and support for a terrorist organization, 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 polarizing society,” he said.
 
He lamented that this situation has significantly worsened under the current state of emergency, which was declared in the aftermath of the failed coup attempt of July 15. According to Muiznieks, the state of emergency 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.
 
 “Experience has shown time and time again that it is precisely in such situations that hatred and violence, as well as terrorist organizations, thrive,” reads the memorandum. “Protection of human rights, of which media freedom and freedom of expression are the bedrock, is the absolute precondition to the establishment of social peace and a healthy democracy.”
 
Turkish leaders, says the memorandum, must change course and “start separating what is a terrorist action from criticism and dissent.”
 
He also complained of erosion of the independence and impartiality of the Turkish judiciary, particularly drawing attention to the role of the criminal judgeships of peace. “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,” he said.
 
Media freedom
 
The memorandum states that the media pluralism and independence have particularly been the casualties of the deteriorating freedoms, with state resources being used to favor 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.
 
Noting that existing problems have been compounded by new and increasingly direct attacks on media freedom, the commissioner regrets “that the current media landscape in Turkey is considerably less diverse, and public debate more stifled and impoverished than in 2011.”
 
“The Commissioner considers the scale and speed of the deterioration of the situation regarding media freedom and freedom of expression in Turkey to be of utmost concern. The current situation is characterized by numerous, blatant violations of principles enshrined in the ECHR [the European Convention on Human Rights], the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, standards of the Council of Europe, as well as other relevant international standards. These violations have created a distinct chilling effect manifesting itself not only in self-censorship in the remaining media … but also among ordinary citizens. This has led to an extremely unfavorable environment for journalism and an increasingly impoverished and one-sided public debate,” reads the memorandum.
 
The commissioner is “alarmed” by the rapid increase of cases where journalists were “detained on the basis of spurious charges” and with little evidence suggesting any guilt.
 
“Hollow charges”
 
Commenting on some of such cases, including the cases of Ahmet Altan and Ahmet Şık and other journalists of the Cumhuriyet daily, the commissioner complains that the judges gave no consideration for freedom of expression in their decisions ordering the journalists’ detention pending trial and the inconsistencies of charges.
 
Recalling charges against Altan that his comments during a television program on the night of July 14, 2016 showed that he had known about the coming coup attempt, the memorandum said the commissioner is “struck … by the hollowness of the charges and the political content of the decision.”
 
On charges against the Cumhuriyet columnists and journalists that they are responsible for propaganda for both FETÖ and the PKK, it complains of “the complete absence of any consideration for freedom of expression in the judge’s assessment, the incongruity of the charges of making propaganda for both FETÖ and PKK at the same time, organizations which have consistently opposed one another, as well as the lack of material evidence establishing any link whatsoever between the suspects and these organizations, aside from a non-contextual reading of newspaper articles critical of the government.”
 
It also says that the Turkish authorities’ defense, that journalists are not prosecuted or detained in connection with their journalistic activity but for other crimes, “loses credibility in view of the facts examined by the Commissioner.”
 
“Admittedly, there is no ‘crime of journalism’ and journalists are prosecuted for other crimes in all cases, but their journalistic activity is often the only ‘evidence’ available to establish such crimes,” says the memorandum.
 
You can read the memorandum here.
 
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