Turkish Journalists Federation Slams Change In Press-Card Regulation

– Vice President of Turkish Journalists Federation Yılmaz Karaca has slammed the change in pres-card regulation announced by the Prime Ministry Directorate General of Press and İnformation on August 25, and said “The change is null and void to us. We will refer to the court for its cancellation.”

The written statement of the Federation stressed that the comission of pres-card regulation has been completely changed and the independent institutions in the commission have been pushed out from the commission, with the new regulation.

Having reminded that the commission formed by 13 people have been raised to 15 however the representations of Turkish Journalists Federation along with İzmir Journalists Federation have been lifted. The statement added that three people’s rights for representation have been reduced to one representation and stated the decisions of press-card commission would be inured only after the consent of General Manager.

Yılmaz Karaca also defined the decision as an attempt to extinguish and silence voice of the existing Commission and journalists in Turkey, with political intentions to design the institutions of state in upon the government’s requests. The Federation announced that they will go to law after the change with their own lawyers on the same day, regarding this decision “which has ignored more than 20,000 journalists and 76 press trade bodies”

Freedom of Press has been one of the biggest concerns in Turkey particularly since Gezi Protests having sparked in 2013; oppositional journalists and media institutions have been attacked, courted to jail, even under demands of aggravated life sentence, leaving behind a control of pro-governmental media.