Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2014-12-17-Speech-3-608-000"
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"en.20141217.64.3-608-000"2
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"Mr President, nobody is safe in Turkey right now. Those are the words of a human rights defender speaking to me on the phone earlier from the front line in Turkey. Why are they not safe? As Federica Mogherini and Commissioner Hahn said in their joint statements, the police raids and arrests of a number of journalists and media representatives in Turkey today are incompatible with freedom of the media, which is a core principle of democracy. Human rights activists, ordinary journalists and people opposing the government are deeply worried by a pattern of curtailment of media freedoms and questions being raised about the independence of the judiciary.
This week’s wave of harassment, under accusations of founding a terror organisation seeking to overthrow the government, indicates the problems with Turkey’s broad based anti-terrorism law, as these accusations are some of the most serious charges which can be levelled under the country’s penal code. Human rights activists in Turkey have told me that those arrested are not clear of what charges they are being arrested under; they are being arrested and detained, and I quote: ‘without concrete evidence, under vague charges and without a clear indictment’. This is clearly in contravention of the European Convention, Articles 5 and 6: the right to liberty and to a fair trial.
I appreciate that Volkan Bozkır, the Minister of EU Affairs, provided assurances to the Commission – as he has done to us – that Turkey seeks to uphold the rule of law. It is right that Turkey, with its geographical and political role in the on-going fight against terrorism, has anti-terrorism legislation. However, if it is correct – as widely reported – that members of the opposition and journalists are getting arrested and having to prove their innocence while prosecutors fail to provide evidence of any criminal activity, then Turkey may be talking about the rule of law, but failing to uphold it in practice.
Finally, Mr President, for those who have queued up to use this yet again to make threats about the accession process, the lesson in this for me is more engagement with Turkey not less. Let us have our resolution in January condemning, in strong terms, the treatment of journalists, but let our rapporteur do her job in committee to draw up a resolution in the interests of Turkey as a country and of the Turkish people."@en1
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"Richard Hewitt (S&D ). -"1
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