The Commission deplored on Monday the arrests of journalists and shutdown of social media accounts in Türkiye and expects the country to respect media freedom and freedom of expression.
The statement refers among others to the arrest of Swedish journalist Joakim Medin, who was arrested at Istanbul airport when arriving in Türkiye to report on the demonstrations in the country against the government. He has been accused of” “insulting” President Erdogan and “membership of a terrorist organisation”.
Both allegations, based on outdated defamation and anti-terrorism legislation that does not meet European standards, are used by the Turkish authorities to limit freedom of expression and suppress peaceful protests against the regime.
In a previous statement last Friday on the ‘Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity’, the EU deplored among others “ongoing arrests of journalists covering peaceful demonstrations in member states of the Council of Europe” without mentioning Türkiye by name.
A Commission spokesperson told The Brussels Times that, “these principles must be respected by Türkiye, as a candidate country which has committed to aligning with the EU acquis, the European standards and values”.
It is crucial that journalists are able to do their job free of any threat of violence, harassment and intimidation to ensure that citizens have access to all information. Türkiye should also ensure a safe and pluralist environment that enables the media to carry out their work independently and without fear of reprisals or dismissals.
The spokesperson added that the Commission will continue to closely monitor developments in the rule of law and fundamental rights area in Türkiye.
EU Member States are often not capable to bring about the release of their citizens themselves, in particular if they have double citizenship. It is still unclear if the Commission will adopt a unified EU strategy to assist them in releasing European citizens that have been arrested by authoritarian regimes on trump-up charges and are held hostages or unlawfully detained.
High Representative Kaja Kallas has recently acknowledged the need for a new approach in this regard. At the press conference after the foreign affairs council meeting in Luxembourg today she only mentioned that the EU will sanction a number of Iranians for their role in state-sponsored hostage taking.
Among other hostages, medicine researcher Ahmadreza Djalali with double Swedish-Iranian citizenship, still languishes in Iranian prison since 2016 with an imminent death sentence hanging over his head.
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
