Journalists Union of Turkey

Journalists staged protests in Istanbul and Ankara to demand the release of daily Cumhuriyet journalists, executives and employees on the 200th day of their arrest on May 18.

Demonstrators gathered in front of the Çağlayan courthouse in Istanbul and made a press statement demanding "freedom for the truth," while holding pictures of the jailed journalists. 

Turkey's Press Advertisement Institution, the authority for distributing official ads to newspapers, has announced that it will not direct any business to publications whose owners, partners or executives face terrorism charges, raising criticism from the opposition and a sector organization. 

Detentions and arrests of journalists violate freedom of information and the targeting of journalists make them victims of the ongoing post-coup attempt state of emergency process, a group of Turkish journalism organizations have said in a statement.

Turkey has silently marked World Press Freedom Day, a day dedicated to defending independent media and paying tribute to journalists who have suffered consequences due to their journalistic activities, amid rising concerns over diminishing editorial freedoms in the country. 

Socialist International President George Papandreou visited daily Cumhuriyet's office in Istanbul on Dec. 20, voicing his concern over the state of media freedom in Turkey while also expressing his support for Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, two prominent journalists for the newspaper who are currently in prison pending trial on charges of "aiding terrorist organizations."  

"Jailed journalists, threshold for collective bargaining, no freelancers rights, refusals of press cards, restrictions of accreditation, growing prosecutions, less freedom to publish." This bleak picture will be at the heart of an upcoming conference on press freedom and labor rights in Turkey, titled "Turkey: Fighting for journalists rights and freedoms in a politically polarized country" and