IJU Plea to PM on Turkey Journos

1 May 2017: The Indian Journalists Union (IJU), the largest and most representative organisation of working journalists in the country, urged upon the Prime Minister and other high officials of the External Affairs Ministry to impress upon the visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to immediately restore freedom of press and other democratic right in Turkey. He is on a state visit to India and holding bilateral discussions t the highest level on wide ranging issues involving the two countries.

The Turkish Government of President Erdogan is brutally muzzling freedom of press by detaining hundreds of journalists and closing down several newspapers and TV stations in the country after the failed coup in July 2016.

In a statement issued here on Monday, 1 May 2017, S N Sinha, President, Amar Devulapalli, Secretary General of the IJU and Sabina Inderjit, Vice-President, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) requested the Government of India to impress upon the visiting dignitary to ensure freedom of expression, protection of journalists and access to information and to create the conditions to enable the media to act as public or social watchdogs and inform the public on matters of general and public interest.

They expressed their solidarity with the struggling journalists in Turkey and promised to actively participate in the global campaign launched by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in their support.