EU's Fule: Turkey should reform laws to ensure press freedoms

Turkey should amend its criminal code and anti-terror legislation to ensure full respect for freedom of expression and the media, EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule said Friday in an exclusive interview with daily Hürriyet.

Fule spoke to the newspaper on the sidelines of the “Speak Up” conference organized by the EU Commission in Brussels, an event that focused extensively on press freedom issues in the Western Balkans and Turkey.

As expected, the conference was dominated by debate about Turkey, which remains at the top of the press-freedom agenda with dozens of journalists under arrest, including well-known investigative reporters Nedim Şener and Ahmet Şık. The following Q & A is an excerpt of Fule’s comments on the issue.

What is your general assessment of the present problems in the area of press freedoms in Turkey?

It is obvious that freedom of expression and the media is an essential part of the Copenhagen political criteria [for EU membership eligibility]. In our latest report, we noted the lack of progress in this area. Unfortunately, Turkish legislation still does not sufficiently guarantee [these freedoms] in line with the European Convention on Human Rights.

By the way, I have just heard about some discussions in Turkey on whether to filter access to the Internet. This is worrying.

There are other unfortunate developments too. I am talking about the high number of court cases against Turkish journalists. I am taking note of complex legislation, particularly the criminal code and also the anti-terrorism law. It is not that we are questioning all these legal procedures – it is about the number of these court cases. This is somehow worrying.

There is also a lack of transparency on what evidence journalists are actually being held. And then we had the recent decision to [arrest] journalists and even confiscate a book that was about to be published. That is very rare.

All these are worrying developments on which we speak very clearly. We are calling on [Turkish] authorities [to make sure that] everything is being done [to solve] this issue of high number of cases against journalists.

 Is it the expectation of the European Commission that Turkey should act to amend and reform its criminal code and anti-terror law?

A: It is a very clear expectation to remove those parts [of these laws] that provide a wide interpretation of that legislation and which do not, unfortunately, provide us with enough transparency about the real basis for the imprisonment of these journalists.

Do you expect that these journalists should be released? Are you sending this message as well?

We don’t want to tell the Turkish judicial system what to do or what not to do. Our message is to the executive branch. We will be monitoring these cases very closely. And as I said, this is also an opportunity for the Turkish judicial system to show that it is efficient, impartial and delivers justice in full respect of the rights of the defendants.

Doesn’t your statement indirectly imply that you don’t see that the courts are acting totally in line with the principle of impartiality?

I am not implying anything – I am just stating obvious facts. Is the legislation regarding these court decisions in line with EU expectations? No, it is not. We made that point a number of times and we will continue to do so until the government, the Parliament deliver on this expectation.

Turkey’s EU candidacy has not provided sufficient guarantees in preventing the problems regarding press freedoms. There is growing consensus that the EU should adopt new ways to address these problems. What else can the EU do?

There’s going to be a more structured dialogue between us and media representatives in EU candidate countries. There is going to be reflection of these issues in our reporting. I would like each and every progress report [to] specifically address the issue of media freedoms. It is not enough just to say there is a problem in this area. We’d like to be clear also on what needs to be done.

Do you have a message to arrested Turkish journalists?

A: Our thoughts are with them and dozens of others who have had their own experiences with the authorities. I appreciate the courage of journalists in pursuing their job to bring truth to the benefit of fellow citizens, even if these are sometimes painful truths. Those who were victims of the actions of authorities have our support.


/Hurriyet Daily News/