Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Se\u00e1n Crowe TD, has expressed concern at the Turkish Government\u2019s escalating\u00a0crackdown on news and media organisations in recent weeks. He said that democrats and those who believe in the concept of a free and independent media need to speak out at what is happening in Turkey.<\/p>\n
Deputy Crowe said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cornerstone of any democracy should be a free and independent media, where journalists can operate without the fear of imprisonment or assassination.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis current Turkish Government has an appalling disregard for civil and human rights, and a complete distain for independent news organisations, journalists, and independent thinkers.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince the attempted military coup last month, the Government of President Erdo\u011fan\u00a0has intensified its crackdown on the media, and on anyone who dares to disagree with his narrow view of the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany human rights groups are now describing\u00a0Turkey as the world leader in locking up journalists.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the state of emergency laws that it brought in last month,\u00a0the Turkish\u00a0Government has closed 102 media outlets, including 45 newspapers, 16 TV channels. 3 news agencies, 23 radio stations, 15 magazines, and 29 publishing houses.<\/p>\n
\u201cA total of 2,308 media workers and journalists have lost their jobs and more than 100 journalists have been arrested.<\/p>\n
\u201cA recent\u00a0example of the Turkish Government\u2019s attempt to quell and silence any independent or critical voices can be seen in the forced closure of the pro-Kurdish \u00d6zg\u00fcr G\u00fcndem daily newspaper.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 25 year old daily has faced a barrage of State intimidation and violence. This month it was forcibly closed\u00a0down after a heavy handed police raid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Turkish Government\u2019s attacks and intensified crackdown on the media needs to stop. Democrats\u00a0and those who believe in an independent media need to stand in solidarity with \u00d6zg\u00fcr G\u00fcndem, and other media organisations, which are battling against the autocratic censorship being imposed on them.<\/p>\n
“We all need to speak up on behalf those who are now\u00a0being censored and jailed in Turkey.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Se\u00e1n Crowe TD, has expressed concern at the Turkish Government\u2019s escalating\u00a0crackdown on news and media organisations in recent weeks. He said that democrats and those who believe in the concept of a free and independent media need to speak out at what is happening in Turkey. Deputy Crowe said: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,136],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","category-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2809"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2810,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2809\/revisions\/2810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}