Turkey has cancelled at least 685 press cards since the failed coup attempt of July 15, 2016 over links to groups Ankara considers threats to national security, including having communicated with their members.
The total number of cards cancelled recently is currently unknown, as the journalists were not officially notified. Journalists have individually confirmed the cancellations. Several of them were members of Turkey’s Union of Journalists.
Other journalists, including those that work at opposition dailies Evrensel and BirGün, had noticed that their pending applications for press cards renewals were rejected by the Presidency’s Communication Directorate when they checked the official body’s website.
The Journalists’ Union of Turkey was targeted after its show of public support for journalists whose press cards were cancelled.
A pro-government newspaper based in Istanbul has blasted the Union, gearing up the official narrative that labels jailed journalists as “terrorists.”
International Press Institute issued a statement condemning the cancellations, calling it “a brazen attack on independent journalism and critical media.”
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