US concern over freedom of expression in Turkey

WASHINGTON DC – The US State Department expressed concern on Tuesday over Turkey’s increasing crackdown on freedom of expression and urged Ankara to uphold its “democratic standards.”

“We’ve made clear in the past and continue to make clear of our concern about Turkish Government interferences with freedom of expression and assembly, as well as the importance in the administration of due process and justice,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner said in a daily briefing.

He added: “We urge the Turkish authorities to ensure that their actions uphold universal democratic values, and that includes freedom of the press, due process, and access to media and information.”

Last week, Turkish anti-terror police arrested British journalists Jake Hanrahan and Philip Pendlebury, both working for Vice News, in the Baglar district of Diyarbakir in Turkey’s Kurdish southeast. A Turkish court on Monday charged the journalists and their Turkish fixer with assisting the Islamic State group (ISIS).

Ankara’s action against the journalists brought heavy denunciations by international rights groups, which have called the charges “baseless” and demanded their immediate release.

In a separate incident, Turkish police raided 23 companies on Tuesday that belonged to the Koza Ipek Holding media group, accusing them of providing alleged support for a terrorist organization, according to the state-run Anatolia news agency.

The news agency reported that six people have been arrested and a warrant has been issued for the conglomerate's chief executive, Akin Ipek.

Ipek, which owns several Turkish media outlets is related to the US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, a staunch political opponent of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan has accused the Gulen movement of establishing a “parallel organization” last year. Last December, Turkish police arrested more than 30 journalists with links to the Gulen movement, which refutes the charges against it.