ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was “saddened” over comments by American President Barack Obama’s criticism of eroding press freedoms in Turkey. “I have been saddened that this kind of statement has been made in my absence. These issues did not come up on the agenda in our meeting with Mr. Obama,” Erdogan told a group of journalists, the Hurriyet Daily News reported on Sunday. The two leaders met behind closed doors in Washington last Thursday, and Obama’s light criticism of conditions for journalists in Turkey came after that. “I think the approach they have been taking toward the press is one that could lead Turkey down a path that would be very troubling,” Obama said, speaking to reporters at the conclusion of the Nuclear Security Summit. The US president said the issue was discussed with Erdogan, but the Turkish president demurred. “I have not been told this kind of thing. Besides, in our previous telephone conversations, we agreed that talking face-to-face would be more useful rather than talking through press,” Erdogan said. Under Erdogan, there has been a severe media crackdown in Turkey, where newspaper editors and journalists having had to appear in courts for “insults” to the president. “In some newspapers in Turkey, headlines calling the president as ‘murderer, robber’ are being written. Threats are being hurled in headlines,” Erdogan was quoted as saying. “If it was true that there was a dictatorship in Turkey, then how could such publications come out?” he said. Had Obama put these issues (about press freedom) on the agenda during our meeting; then I would have told him (explained this) by presenting all of these examples,” Erdogan said.
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