A total 894 journalists have been dismissed from work since the beginning of 2016, according to a fresh report by Press For Freedom, a project funded by Britain’s Bilateral Program, which produces monthly, quarterly and yearly reports on the state of media freedoms in Turkey, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.
The report, whose findings were announced at a press conference on May 14, displayed a gloomy picture of the deteriorating state of press freedoms in Turkey.
Two newspapers and a news agency have been “silenced” with the appointment of a trustee panel due to “strong evidence” of links to the Gülen movement, followers of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, an ally-turned-foe of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the report said.
At least 160 journalists were laid off in Turkey in April, increasing the number of discharged journalists to a total 894 over the first quarter of 2016, the report said.
The research also noted some 104,904 websites were blocked while access has been denied to the website of the Dicle News Agency (DİHA) 37 times since the general elections on June 7, 2015. Thirteen of the agency’s journalists are also current under arrest.
