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| The Grand Turk |
| Turkey’s Crackdown on Critics of Erdogan Snares Dutch Journalist |
| 2016-04-25 |
| [NYTIMES] Ebru Umar, a Dutch journalist, wrote a column last week critical of ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... , and his government’s growing crackdown on freedom of expression. She later took to Twitter, criticizing supporters of Mr. Erdogan and using a profanity. On Saturday night, the police arrived at her summer home in Turkey and took her in for questioning for insulting Mr. Erdogan, a crime in Turkey. Ms. Umar was released from custody on Sunday, she said on Twitter, but was barred from leaving the country. She is the latest on a growing list of journalists, academics, cartoonists and others -- nearly 2,000 cases have been filed in Turkish courts -- who have faced the Turkish justice system for insulting Mr. Erdogan. The crime carries a sentence of four years in prison. Ms. Umar was detained just as European leaders, including Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... , the German chancellor, and Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, were wrapping up a visit to Turkey to highlight progress in its pact with the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... over the migrant crisis. Turkey’s clampdown on the news media has increasingly become intertwined with Europe’s attempts to cooperate with Turkey on the migrant issue. European leaders, especially Ms. Merkel, are facing criticism that they are betraying European values in a bid to win over Mr. Erdogan. Turkey has seemed to extend its crackdown beyond its borders. Ms. Merkel, for instance, was highly criticized in her own country for allowing a case to proceed against a German comedian who read a profanity-laced, satirical poem about Mr. Erdogan on television. Turkey filed a formal complaint under a rarely used German law that prohibits insulting foreign leaders. Late Friday, Ms. Merkel reacted for the first time to criticism of how she had handled the affair. She defended her decision to allow further investigation by prosecutors, but said she regretted saying she shared the view of the Turkish authorities that the poem was offensive. "Looking back, that was a mistake," she said. "The impression arose that freedom of opinion and freedom of the press were not important. They are important to me and will remain so." |
| Posted by:Fred |