Prominent Turkish journalist receives Harvard journalism award

Renowned Turkish journalist Hasan Cemal received the Louis Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism in a ceremony held at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University on March 12.

In December 2014, the Nieman Class of 2015 chose Cemal in recognition of his long career dedicated to championing freedom of the press in Turkey.

In his acceptance speech, Cemal mainly focused on the restrictions on press freedom in Turkey, while directly naming President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an as the reason for Turkey moving into a "civilian despotism."

"He [Erdo?an] is a man who could have led Turkey into the family of democracies, but who is now leading it back to the wilderness. We are moving from a system of 'military bureaucratic tutelage' to a system of 'civilian despotism.' And all this is called by his partisans, the new Turkey and even a 'people's revolution,'" said Cemal during his speech.

Indicating that Turkish journalists were not able to do their jobs properly, Cemal gave examples of the current situation of the press in the country.

"I come from a country where a journalist was arrested and her mobile phone and computer seized because of a single tweet; a country where, for that single tweet, she faces five years in prison. I come from a country where a prime minister has declared social media to be a social menace. I come from a country where Twitter and YouTube were banned by government fiat," Cemal said.

Cemal said no matter how hard and harsh the conditions in Turkey were, journalists would continue to ask questions.

"But journalists will continue to ask questions. No dictator can divest journalists of this democratic right," Cemal said.

Cemal also referred to the events...