Pressure on media freedom raises concerns: OSCE election monitors

Media freedom, pluralism and media playing the field for candidates were areas which raised concerns ahead of Turkey's Nov. 1 elections, according to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) election observation leaders, who spoke after their multi-city visit.

The OSCE special coordinator for observation of the early parliamentary elections in Turkey, Ignacio Sanchez Amor, and the head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Delegation of Observers, Margareta Cederfelt, visited the center, east and west of the country this week in preparation for the Nov. 1 vote.

They met with senior representatives from the election administration, representatives of political parties, NGOs, analysts, journalists and long-term observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) while visiting Istanbul, Ankara, Erzurum and Diyarbak?r.

In Ankara, Sanchez Amor and Cederfelt also met with representatives of the Koza ?pek media group, which was appointed a board of trustees following a court ruling and whose offices were raided by police.

Freedom of expression, freedom of the media and security for all political parties were the preliminary focuses of these meetings.

"Our meetings with Koza ?pek and journalists from a range of media outlets suggest that, once again, media freedom, media pluralism and the media playing the field for candidates are areas to which we must pay close attention in characterizing the context of these elections" said Amor.

Cederfelt met with Diyarbak?r Governor Hüseyin Aksoy regarding concerns over electoral security in the region.

"In Diyarbak?r and in the eastern part of Turkey especially, the issue of security is at the front of people's...