Press freedom in Turkey

The Carnegie Papers (The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) Jan 2013

Marc Pierini with Markus Mayr

The state of press freedom in Turkey is a stain on Ankara’s democratic reputation, economic standing, and diplomatic position. Despite domestic and international criticism of the imprisonment and prosecution of journalists in Turkey and of the flawed Turkish legal system, the government has not responded decisively. There are profound political, economic, and ethical reasons for Turkey to improve its record on press freedom.

* Marc Pierini is a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, where his research focuses on developments in the Middle East and Turkey from a European perspective. Pierini was an EU career diplomat from December 1976 to April 2012. He was EU ambassador and head of delegation to Turkey from 2006 to 2011, and was ambassador in Tunisia and Libya from 2002 to 2006, Syria from 1998 to 2002, and Morocco from 1991 to 1995. Markus Mayr is a research assistant at Carnegie Europe.

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