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Turkey
People hold banners reading "We can't breathe. Journalism cannot be drowned!" during a rally in Ankara on June 29, 2021. Photo: Adem Altan/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Violations against women journalists and members of the LGBTQ community in Turkey are increasing at an alarming rate, representatives from the Coalition for Women in Journalism (CFWIJ) told Rudaw English on Wednesday night.
"Every month our work at CFWIJ shows the consistent increase in the particular violations against women and LGBTQ journalists in the field as well as newsrooms," founding director of the coalition Kiran Nazish told Rudaw English.
Women journalists face imprisonment on false charges and vicious misinformation campaigns that Nazish described as tactics to “silence" their work.
Turkey was the world leader in committing violations against women journalists in June, the CFWIJ said it its latest monthly report.
"We document almost one case of violence against female reporters in Turkey every day. For instance, 16 women journalists appeared in court and defended themselves against unfounded terror-related charges last month," added Damla Tarhan, the organization’s regional coordinator.
"Most of the time, we document our friends' cases, and this makes us feel angry too," she added.
Turkey officially quit the Istanbul Convention, an international treaty to prevent and combat violence against women, on Thursday.
A "visible increase in cases of threats" is expected after the withdrawal, according to Tarhan.
It is also known as one of the world’s biggest jailers of journalists, with Reporters Without Borders recently including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a gallery of “press freedom predators.”
On Tuesday, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu filed a lawsuit against pro-opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper for publishing over 200 reports about him after prominent mob leader Sedat Peker's claimed the minister was involved in various crimes, including corruption.
The Turkish Journalists Association (TGC) slammed Soylu's lawsuit, saying "journalists are the voice of powerless and poor."
"Freedom of the press includes the freedom to receive or impart information or ideas without interference from official authorities," it said in a statement.
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