Brussels, 05/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - Since Tuesday 2 June, several European leaders have been criticising the threats of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Can Dundar, the editor-in-chief of Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet. On Friday 29 May, the newspaper published a video that reportedly showed deliveries of weapons from the Turkish government to the Syrian rebels - although according to the official version, the lorry was loaded with humanitarian aid. On Sunday 31 May, Erdogan promised that Dundar would pay a “high price” for his “spying” activities. He has since called for Dundar's life sentence.
Maja Kocijancic, the spokesperson for European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, said she hoped that Dundar's case would be dealt with “transparently and with full clarity, in line with the relevant rules and judicial procedures, and in conformity with the Turkish constitution”. “The right to inform and be informed is exceptionally important in an electoral period and we are following the developments closely relating the enjoyment of these rights”, she said. Parliamentary elections are due to be held in Turkey on 7 June. “The state and maturity of democracy in a country can be judged according to the state of the freedom of the media and of respect for it”, she added.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the tighter and tighter stranglehold on the media and freedom of expression in Turkey, put in place by the Turkish president and the national authorities, said leader of the European Parliament's S&D Group, Gianni Pittella. He described the call for a life prison sentence for Dundar as “simply unacceptable”. “In a modern democracy, the freedom of the press and expression must be respected - especially a few days away from the elections”, he added.
Alexander Graf Lambsdorff (ALDE, Germany) said that “the constant threats of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan towards journalists and editors show that he does not understand democratic principles or that he is consciously ignoring them”. “On the eve of the elections on Sunday, the state of democracy in Turkey is deplorable”, he said.
“President Erdogan personally proposes the sentence for the editor who published critical articles. Insane”, said co-leader of the European Parliament's Greens Group, Rebecca Harms. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)