IPI supports Hürriyet over Erdo?an's words

Members of the International Press Institute (IPI)?s Executive Board called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and his supporters in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to ?immediately halt a disingenuous campaign of vilification against the Do?an Media Group and its daily newspaper Hürriyet? that has raged this week, the IPI said in a statement on May 22.

The president and his supporters have slammed the group and Hürriyet over the daily?s May 16 online report on the death sentence handed to deposed former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, saying the article?s headline on the daily?s website represented a death threat against Erdo?an. The headline at issue read: ?The world is shocked! Death sentence for president who received 52 percent of the vote.?

Erdo?an, who was himself elected president with 52 percent of the vote, made the claim in public speeches earlier this week. However, pro-government Turkish daily Sabah noted that on the same day the headline appeared, Erdo?an specifically pointed to Morsi?s receipt of 52 percent of the vote in a public address in which he criticised the Egyptian sentence.

?Since then, Erdo?an and a number of his supporters in the AKP who are campaigning ahead of parliamentary elections on June 7 have engaged in an escalating campaign against the Do?an Media Group and Hürriyet,? the statement said.

Warning over ?chilling effect?

In recent days, one AKP candidate has even gone so far as to file a criminal complaint against Hürriyet Editor-in-Chief Sedat Ergin seeking his arrest, a move the Turkish Journalists? Association (TGC) condemned as a ?new blow against press freedom.?

IPI Executive Director Barbara Trionfi said the organization was ?very concerned for our...