Vienna, 07/07/2014
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), is alarmed by the behavior of autoritites in the Izmir province in Turkey, where a letter was sent to Ege’nin Sesi newspaper, requesting the removal of an article..
SEEMO fully supports the decision of the paper and paper’s editor-in chief not to remove the article, and consider this letter an attempt at diminishing media freedom.
The article described the events during a commemoration march, when an disagreement began between the marchers and the police. The police officer used foul language, which was an allegation in the article. There was no taped recording of the event.
The letter which was signed by the Police Commissioner 4 July denies these allegations, and demands for the article to be removed.
Journalists of this newspaper did not remove the article, and published the letter as well, but deem this attempt as an attack to freedom of speech and journalistic rights.