My father and press freedom are on trial in Turkey – don’t look away, Europe | Muratcan Sabuncu | Opinion
We all know the story of the small child who piped up “the emperor has no clothes†while everybody was pretending to admire the despot parading through the streets. This child is analogous to those who, in the same spirit of honesty, have come out to tell the truth in today’s Turkey. The truth-tellers are in fact the real patriots, and they succeeded in becoming the conscience of a country by dispelling the fog clouding our perceptions to show us reality.
My father, Murat Sabuncu, is a truth-teller. He is the editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet daily newspaper, which is one of the very few remaining critical but respected voices in the Turkish media. He and 11 of his colleagues from Cumhuriyet have been detained for the past nine months. Their trial will start in Istanbul on Monday.
It was only after five months of detention that Cumhuriyet journalists and employees found out what charges they were facing. They are accused of links to various terrorist groups and could get sentences of between 7.5 and 43 years in prison. However, a person who turns the pages of the indictment cannot see anything other than newspaper headlines, news, reports, columns and tweets. The case at trial is therefore journalism and the freedom of the press.
Cumhuriyet has been advocating for democracy, secularism and republican values in Turkey since its foundation in 1924. Its journalists consider their criticism to be an essential part of their loyalty to their country and a safeguard against crisis and chaos. They, including my father, brought to light things which were going wrong with honesty, accuracy, and fairness. They believe in freedom of information as a way to enable citizens to make well-informed and meaningful decisions. My father and his fellow journalists thus reflected their patriotism and love for country through the words that flowed from their pens.
My father’s pen always sided with democracy, justice and conscience. He stood against the 1997 Turkish military memorandum, the headscarf ban, the attempt to close the ruling Justice and Development Party for anti-secularism, and the 15 July failed coup attempt. As a child, I remember my father following very closely the assassination of the editor Hrant Dink and subsequent murder trial, and visiting in Silivri prison his friend, the journalist Nedim Şener, who was arrested and charged during Ergenekon. My father always knew that dissident journalists risk unemployment, imprisonment and death, quipping sardonically to me that both a cemetery and a courthouse were visible from the office of the editor-in-chief at Cumhuriyet headquarters.
Before working for Cumhuriyet, my father had already experienced temporary unemployment for standing up for his values. Now, he is experiencing imprisonment at Silivri. I have to emphasise here that by imprisonment I mean true isolation: one hour is allocated per week for family and lawyer visits, 10 minutes of phone calls once every two weeks, and one open visit once every two months. What would be your reaction if this was happening to the editor-in-chief of the Times, Telegraph or Guardian?
I sincerely believe that millions of Turkish citizens support our cause. Their hearts are beating for a tolerant, broadminded, pluralistic, and democratic Turkey where no one fears truth-telling, where no one is exiled for their ideas. The Turkish people do not consider journalism a crime and think that these detentions damage the reputation of our country. The Turkish people believe that the Kafkaesque charges that my father and his colleagues are facing exceed the limits of normalcy, and weaken Turkey’s legitimate fight against actual terrorist organisations.
At the events that I organised across Europe to raise awareness about the Cumhuriyet trial and freedom of the press in Turkey, there was a question that was put to me frequently: “What do you expect from Europe?†I expect Europe not only to follow not only the trial that will take place next week but also other trials of Turkish people fighting for their rights.
To the extent that democracy and human rights are fragile everywhere, our fight for these values must be carried out daily by each and every citizen. Everyone has to be an advocate of freedom of the press considering that it is the guarantee of other rights, and has a crucial role in solving problems and making good decisions. The fight for freedom of the press in Turkey is a fight for all of us. It is therefore incumbent upon us all to show solidarity with the truth-tellers of Cumhuriyet, who indeed have shown that the emperor has no clothes.
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