Commemoration for Slain Journalist Hrant Dink and State of Press Freedom in Turkey in 2018


14/02/2018

Eleven years after the murder of the Armenian journalist Hrant Dink the instigators of the crime are still to answer to justice, while press freedom in Turkey has suffered a dramatic decline in the last decade

Eleven years have passed since the assassination of the Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul. However only a few steps have been taken to solve the case, while in the meantime press and media freedom have been systematically reduced. Director İmre Azem has followed the commemoration for Hrant Dink on its 11th anniversary, and followed the traces of press freedom in Turkey for dokuz8NEWS.

Currently Turkey is still the country with most number of journalists in prison. Numerous media organisations have been shut down, and thousands of journalists are disemployed, while even social media activities are considered within the framework of terror crimes.

The video includes short interviews to Yertvart Danzikyan, editor-in-chief of Agos, the only weekly in Turkish and Armenian languages in Turkey; journalist Tunca Öğreten, who stayed in prison for 323 days, for writing news report on the leaked e-mails of Minister of Energy, Berat Albayrak, and who has still 23 ongoing trials against him; and Law professor Yaman Akdeniz.