The International Press Institute and the European Endowment for Democracy are organizing a meeting hosted by Nacho Sánchez Amor, the European Parliament’s Rapporteur for Türkiye, with leading journalists and human rights activists to debate the future of advocacy for media freedom and human rights in post-election Turkey.
The meeting has been called as media freedom and civil society organizations grapple with the results of the May elections that saw the re-election of President Erdoğan and the AKP-led government that has been responsible for widespread oppression of human rights and media freedoms over the past two decades.
The European Parliament’s draft report on the country emphasizes, among other things, the lack of an independent judiciary and rule of law crisis, serious restrictions on fundamental freedoms, and constant attacks on fundamental rights of the opposition, lawyers, journalists, academics and civil society activists in Turkey including the Kurdish community, women and LGBTQI+
Meanwhile, the International Press Institute’s report on the October 2022 joint international press freedom mission to Turkey concluded that the weaponization of courts and regulatory bodies to punish independent journalists; the capture of mainstream media by pro-government oligarchs; increasing online censorship including through the recent ‘disinformation’ law; and the hostile climate both online and offline toward critical journalists would seriously the press’s ability to freely cover this past May’s pivotal elections.
Nacho Sanchez Amor declares that Turkey’s accession process has lost its purpose and calls for a resetting of the country’s relationship with the EU to put democracy, fundamental rights and the rule of law at the centre.
Join us on Tuesday, July 4th to debate these issues from 15.00 – 17.00 in the European Parliament. Please register here for in person or online participation.
Agenda
Opening:
Nacho Sánchez Amor (SnD), EP Rapporteur for Türkiye
Udo Bullmann (SnD) Chair of Subcommittee on Human Rights, (TBC)
Welcome:
Oliver Money-Kyrle, Head of Europe Advocacy and Programmes, International Press Institute (IPI)
Ahmad Fahmy, European Endowment for Democracy (EED)
Speakers:
- Emre Kızılkaya, Vice Chair, International Press Institute (IPI) Executive Board; Chair of IPI Turkey National Committee
- Yaman Akdeniz, Freedom of Expression Association (IFOD)
- Emma Sinclair-Webb, Human Rights Watch
- Melike Balkan, Unikuir
Discussion
Conclusions: Nacho Sánchez Amor