Vienna, 02/08/2016
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) condemned the actions of the Turkish Presidency of Telecommunication and Communication (TIB), and called on the institution to their decisions which are harmful and put pressure on media in the country.
On 24 July, TIB blocked numerous Kurdish media outlets in the aftermath of the coup attempt and clashes that occurred in response to it. The first website to be blocked was the Jin News Agency (JINHA), which is also the first and only women’s news agency in Turkey. This was the sixth time the web portal has been blocked by TIB.
SEEMO fully supports all media workers within JINHA and calls on the Telecommunications and Communications Presidency to abandon all practices of blocking news websites in the country. Furthermore, SEEMO members ask that Turkish authorities release all detained journalists and end oppression against journalists and media outlets. Freedom of expression is crucial in transitional societies and must not suffer because of political interests.
SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe and its press freedom work is supported by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) project, as part of a grant by the European Commissio.