Turkey- CHP leader: No free society without free media
Date
12/15/2015 6:48:44 PM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Turkey’s main opposition leader has again demanded that PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoanand the government show respect for the freedom of the press warning that no society can be free without a free media.
“In a country where the media is not free society is not free either. If we are talking about democracy in a country the media is the cornerstone of this” Republican People’s Party (CHP) leaderKemal Klçdarolusaid Dec. 15 while recalling a visit to Silivri Prison to express solidarity with recently imprisoned journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül.
PRESS continued from page 1
“This matter has nothing to do with being left-wing or right-wing progressive or reactionary. The media needs to be free in all cases and be able to report freely. When we do that we will strengthen the perception that ‘There is democracy in Turkey.’ In a country where this doesn’t exist democracy doesn’t exist and it means that democracy has been wounded” Klçdarolu said at a parliamentary group meeting of his party.
Klçdarolu said Erdoan at the time threatened legal action against daily Cumhuriyet the newspaper for which Dündar and Gül work saying the pair would “pay a high price” for a story on alleged government arms smuggling.
“A so-called dictator says ‘They will pay the price for this.’ You will pay the price for this you. Nobody has the right to play with Turkey’s honor. Thirty-two of our journalists have been imprisoned” he said.
A recently released report showed that Turkey’s rank in the latest Human Development Index (HDI) fell slightly from last year’s level.
Turkey ranked 72th out of 188 countries on the HDI with a value of 0.761 which puts it in the high human development category according to the United Nations’ Human Development Report (HDR) 2015. In last year’s report Turkey ranked 69th out of 187 countries with a HDI value of 0.759.
“Who’s gone ahead of us? Lebanon Costa Rica and Iran. Who brought Turkey into this situation?”Klçdarolu asked. “Who cast a shadow over Turkey’s international reputation?”
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.