The International Press Institute (IPI) today criticized Turkish prosecutors’ attempt to force media organizations to hand over footage and photographs of an anti-government demonstration in May and the subsequent funeral of a man who died in the protest.

Prosecutors in Hopa, on Turkey’s eastern Black Sea coast, threatened media organizations with legal action if they do not hand over all published and unpublished footage and pictures from the 31 May demonstration and the funeral, or specify when they will do so, within 10 days.

The protest took place amid Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Hopa to campaign in advance of the 12 June elections. Retired teacher Metin Lokumcu reportedly died of a heart attack as the result of massive use of tear gas against the demonstrations.

IPI Director Alison Bethel McKenzie said: “Turkish authorities’ request that media organizations turn over footage and photographs related to demonstrations and a funeral is outrageous. No authority should have the right to demand that journalists hand over such materials. This action demonstrates a fundamental lack of respect for the role of journalists and freedom of the press, and I say ‘shame on the public prosecutor’.”

Public Prosecutor Nihat Hırka of the Hopa Public Chief Prosecution Preparation Office wrote that media organizations should send the materials to his office on CD or DVD. He also said that failure to comply could lead to proceedings under Turkey’s Criminal Code.

IPI today also condemned written threats sent to the Evrensel and Agos newspapers in June by the militant ultranationalist “Turkish Revenge Brigade”, threatening violence against Armenians, Kurds and some Turkish activists unless they leave Turkey by 15 Aug. The group reportedly accused the newspapers and others of abusing Turks and “Turkishness”.

The Freedom for Journalists Platform, an umbrella group representing 94 local and national media organizations in Turkey which IPI’s Turkish National Committee currently chairs, said in a statement that it was “monitoring with concern” a political climate that silences journalists by imprisoning them and encouraging violence against them.

The group continued: “As it is in all democratic countries, freedom of thought and expression is a constitutional right. We consider this a threat not only against press freedom, against people’s right of freedom of information, but also an open threat against the safety of the lives of those targeted. Such hateful discourse cannot be ignored and legalized by keeping silent and allowing it to go without reply.”

Noting the danger presented, the platform called on authorities to “take immediate and firm measures” against the threats.