According to information provided to the International Press Institute (IPI), on 31 March, the Turkish government announced plans to postpone the implementation of the new Turkish Penal Code (TCK). The new TCK was to go into effect on 1 April and has now been postponed until 1 June.

Adopted last year, the new TCK was seen as pivotal to Turkey’s successful negotiations to join the European Union. IPI, however, along with other media organisations, has sharply criticised the new TCK because it contains an array of repressive provisions that infringe on press freedom.

As well as containing prison sentences for journalists who breach key insult and criminal defamation provisions, the law specifically targets the media by increasing sentences where the media are involved.

IPI Director, Johann P. Fritz, said, “I welcomes this decision, but it does not go far enough. The Turkish government must now enter into a wide-ranging consultation with local media organisations, including the Press Council, the Publishers Association and the Journalists Association, to ensure that provisions infringing freedom of the press are removed.”

“Turkey is now going through the process of joining the EU and, in doing so, it should realise that a democratic legislative process entails a period of consultation and discussion with interested parties. Repressive provisions cannot be slipped in via the back door, nor can the legitimate complaints of journalists be ignored.”