Two new cases of violence against journalists in southern Turkey

Reporters Without Borders is shocked to learn of two new cases of violence against journalists in the south of the country in the past week as courts in Ankara, Istanbul and elsewhere were sentencing other journalists to serve long jail terms or pay disproportionate amounts in damages in defamation suits. Shots were fired at Mehmet Ali Ünal, the owner of the local newspaper Türkbeleni in the southwestern town of Manavgat, from a distance of 100 metres on 16 June as he was fetching a document from his car, which was parked outside the newspaper. None of the shots hit Ünal but one of them left an impact on the wall of the newspaper’s office. The gunmen fled in a waiting car immediately after firing the shots. Six spent cartridges were found at the scene. Ünal said he thought the attack was linked to articles that had been published in the newspaper but he declined to go into detail. The police said they were investigating the shooting. Veysel Polat, the owner of the newspaper Gap Gündemi, was attacked by four or five men as he was entered a car park in a shopping mall in the southeastern city of Sanliurfa at around 7 p.m. on 14 June and was hospitalised with injuries to the face. A supporter of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Polat said he did not know his assailants. Reporters Without Borders condemns these attacks and hopes that those responsible will be identified and brought to justice. The press freedom organisation also deplores the lack of progress in the investigation into the murder of Cihan Hayirsevener, the editor of the newspaper Güney Marmara’da Yasam, on 18 December 2009. Six months have gone by but no trial has taken place and the suspected perpetrators are still at large. It is time to end the prevailing impunity for those who use violence against journalists. Press freedom is a fundamental right and the judicial system must play its part in protecting it.