US State Department reacted to exclusion of a number of journalists from the G20 summit to be held in Antalya on Sunday. It is expected that President Obama will also be in Antalya, along with other world leaders including Russian President Putin.
When asked about excluding some of critical media from the Summit, US State Department Spokesperson Julia Mason, in an email, said ''In a democratic society, critical opinions should be encouraged, not silenced.''
Mason continued: ''As we have said, we are concerned by a troubling pattern in Turkey of targeting media outlets and other organizations that are critical of the government.
As Turkey’s friend and NATO ally, we continue to urge the Turkish authorities to ensure their actions uphold the universal democratic values that are enshrined in Turkey’s constitution, including freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.''
The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries, condemned the Turkish government’s failure to provide accreditation to journalists from critical media outlets to cover the G-20 summit, the latest evidence of declining press freedom in the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment