The Turkish Cypriot press celebrates July 11 Press Day under the shadow of legal initiatives that will threaten freedom of expression and thought, the Cyprus Turkish Journalists Union (KTGB) announced, Yeniduzen reported.
A statement issued by the journalists union leaders said, “The Turkish Cypriot press is one of the last strongholds that was not besieged and captured“.
KTGB also drew attention to events such as when the BRTK Director was jailed for two months for breaking election bans. “BRTK and TAK have an autonomous and politically-free structure, and that our private media should be freed from unfair competition and institutionalised and developed”, the statement said.
It was also announced that press service and success awards would be handed out at the traditional Press Day reception of the Turkish Cypriot Journalists’ Union on Wednesday, 13 July at 8pm at Paradise Park in the union complex.
The full statement issued by the journalists union is as follows:
“The Turkish Cypriot press celebrates the July 11 Press Day in the shadow of legal initiatives that will threaten freedom of expression and thought.
“Journalists and all enlightened people of the society have shown the necessary reaction and given their message by uniting against these initiatives with the actions organised by the KTGB in the recent past.
“For 133 years, our press has not and will not compromise its voice, principle, freedom of will and determination to exist in these lands.
“The Turkish Cypriot press is one of the last strongholds not besieged and captured.
“In our country, where the economic difficulties fueled by the pandemic have reached a painful level, it is imperative that everyone who wants a democratic and modern society react and voice against the desire to dismantle and silence our press, which is struggling to survive, on the other hand, by legal regulations.
“The unfair competition that our press has been exposed to for years, inadequacies in infrastructure and the lack of vision of politics continue to threaten the free press and freedom of the press.
“This year, we celebrate the 11th of July Press Day, at a time when the director of the biggest press institution of our country is in prison. In this regard, we would like to draw attention to the pressures and processes that sent the Director of the public radio-TV institution BRTK behind bars”.