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Turkish journalists jailed

Two journalists, Nedem Sener and Ahmet Sik, were sentenced to prison on Sunday pending an investigation into allegations that the military attempted to overthrow the Turkish government in 2003. About 60 journalists are currently imprisoned and thousands face prosecution for their work, reported the Turkish Journalists’ Association.

Meanwhile, there are other concerns about press freedom in Turkey; 600,000 bloggers cannot access their blogs, after Google’s blogging service, Blogspot, was blocked in the country, for example. The site was banned by a Turkish court after users showed football matches on their blogs. Digiturk, a satellite TV firm, has exclusive rights to broadcast the matches in Turkey and approached the courts when it became aware of the matches being shown on the blogs.

Turkish foreign minister rejects US comments on press freedom record

Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu has dismissed remarks made by the US ambassador in Ankara. Diplomat Francis J Ricciardone expressed concerns about press freedom in the country. His comments came in response to the detention of four journalists following a raid on opposition news portal Oda TV. The foreign minister said that he did not think it was right for “ambassador to pass judgment on an ongoing criminal investigation”, and claimed press freedom was not the issue.

Azerbaijan: Journalist brutally beaten by policeman

On 14 February a journalist for the Azerbaijani newspaper Bizim yol was savagely attacked outside the President’s residence. A policeman dressed in plain clothes attacked the journalist while he was recording protesters who had assembled near the President’s officey. The police officer destroyed the unnamed journalists film during the vicious attack.