HUMAN RIGHTS : Istanbul’s Ignominy

Turkey’s ruthless repression of the press conflicts with the nation’s pretense to be a freely functioning democracy. The abuse of the press is just part of a malign human-rights record that includes widespread use of torture and substandard prisons.

“The government may defend supremacy of the law, but the way it has put itself above the law has breached all human rights, not just those of the press,” according to Nezih Demirkent, president of the Journalists’ Union of Turkey.

Last year, the government confiscated newspapers and magazines at the rate of one a week. Some 48 attacks on journalists by police and 118 legal proceedings against newspapers by officials were counted in the same period by the Press Council.

The press of Turkey is marred by more than its share of sensationalism and irresponsible reporting, of pandering and partisanship. But those defects do not justify the controls imposed by the government. Indeed, the particular targets of much of the repression are not the irresponsible journals but those exercising appropriate challenges to government authority and asserting a diversity of political views.

President Turgut Ozal bears a particular responsibility for the press freedom deterioration which he has not only condoned but appeared to relish. It undermines his claim to be leading Turkey on the path to modern democracy and his government’s proposal to join the European Community.