Freedom of Thought Prize awarded to Turkish journalists
Mar 09, 2006
IJNET
Two Turkish journalists working in Belgium were recently honored for more than 30 years of covering human rights in their home country.
The Human Rights Association of Turkey gave the 2006 Ayse Zarakolu Freedom of Thought Prize to Dogan Ozguden and Inci Tugsavul. The two journalists founded Info-Turk, an NGO that reports on issues that are controversial in Turkey, such as anti-Semitism and the Armenian Genocide. They are subject to arrest in their home country, for alleged “crimes of opinion” and insults to “Turkishness.”
The association announced the award at the general meeting of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), which took place February 19 to 24 in Brussels.
The Freedom of Thought Prize is named for Turkish publisher and human rights advocate Ayse Nur Zarakolu, who once said “the place to debate our history is in books, not in the courts.”
Despite some reforms in recent years, Turkish law still allows authorities to prosecute and jail journalists for their work.
Info-Turk: http://www.info-turk.be/. IFEX Communiqué: http://www.ifex.org/fr/content/view/full/72700/.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
IJNET
Two Turkish journalists working in Belgium were recently honored for more than 30 years of covering human rights in their home country.
The Human Rights Association of Turkey gave the 2006 Ayse Zarakolu Freedom of Thought Prize to Dogan Ozguden and Inci Tugsavul. The two journalists founded Info-Turk, an NGO that reports on issues that are controversial in Turkey, such as anti-Semitism and the Armenian Genocide. They are subject to arrest in their home country, for alleged “crimes of opinion” and insults to “Turkishness.”
The association announced the award at the general meeting of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), which took place February 19 to 24 in Brussels.
The Freedom of Thought Prize is named for Turkish publisher and human rights advocate Ayse Nur Zarakolu, who once said “the place to debate our history is in books, not in the courts.”
Despite some reforms in recent years, Turkish law still allows authorities to prosecute and jail journalists for their work.
Info-Turk: http://www.info-turk.be/. IFEX Communiqué: http://www.ifex.org/fr/content/view/full/72700/.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 10:28 AM
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