By Burak Sayin
Photos by Alison Klein
The editor-in- chief of Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, Sedat Ergin, has received a GMF 2016 Freedom Of Speech award. “Following the physical attacks against our newspaper last September, and a beating suffered by one of our leading columnists, my newspaper had to allocate an armored car for me. It cannot be common for the editor-in- chief of the biggest newspaper of an EU candidate country to go about with a body guard in an armored car,” he says.
Hurriyet is a major newspaper in Turkey, well-known for its liberal and secular views, which go in opposition to the ruling party. In September, the newspaper’s office has been attacked with AKP (Turkish ruling party) supporters, who threw stones in the building and burned its flag. Abdülrahim Boynukalın, an AKP Istanbul MP and the head of the AKP’s youth organization led the protest. During the attack, Sedat Ergin went live on CNN Turk, located next to Hurriyet, saying, “‘We are under attack”. The incident was connected to the previous criticism of Erdogan, which appeared in the paper.
Upon receiving his award, Ergin spoke about the new global problem related to the media freedom. “I am talking about cases where all the formal requirements of a democracy are present in appearance, but in practice, freedom of expression and freedom of the press are actually restricted,” he says adding that such cases are happening throughout the world despite the level of democracy and media influence.
Turkey has been under scrutiny for the decline of freedom of press in recent months. Sedat Ergin was one of the many journalists targeted by the ruling AKP government. He is now facing 5 years in prison for insulting the president Erdogan.
TURKEY’S KURDISH ISSUE
Hurriyet has been recently heavily criticized for the coverage of Kurdish issue after the conflict between Turkish security forces and PKK (Kurdistan Worker’s Party) started back in June 2015. Recently, the newspaper laid of its senior correspondent in Diyarbakir, a Kurdish populated city in the southeast of Turkey, and hired pro-government column writers. Orange Magazine asked Ergin about allegedly biased coverage of the issue.
“Hurriyet had a crucial role in peace process having public support, and we should not forget we were also strongly criticized for our support of this process by pro-government side,” he says.
Southeast of Turkey is a problematic region where the Kurdish minority lives. AKP started a ‘peace process’ to stop the 35 year-old armed struggle between internationally recognized terrorist organization PKK and Turkey. However, the peace process failed after the election in 7th of 2015.
“Everything has changed after the elections. I would like to see the peace process starting again. Guns and violence are never a solution,” concludes Ergin.
