Censorship

The perils of being a journalist in Turkey

Censorship In Turkey, expressing any sort of opinion that can be construed to be against the state can land one in prison or worse. Sympathy with the Kurds is especially dangerous.
On Istanbul's streets protesters shout "Murderers! Government!" and risk jail by wearing yellow and red. It's as close as they dare get to the banned colours of the PKK Kurdish separatist guerrillas. Inside Istanbul's military court we film trials under Turkey's notorious 'freedom of speech' law. From a police cell at the back of the court a well-dressed man appeals to our camera until silenced by guards. Journalists greet each other at the funeral of a newspaper owner. So many media people have been killed in recent years that funerals are a regular meeting place. Their talk is of prison, Mafia assassinations and government suppression. Journalist Ayse Onal compares Turkey to Italy before the Mafia was cleaned up. She says people are trapped by fear between the government, the Mafia and the PKK. Interviews with a human rights lawyer, the Prime Minister's aid Yildirim Aktuna and a political prisoner. Nobel Peace Prize winner Yashar Kemal is in his 70s and is charged with terrorism for writing about the Kurds. "Who is really guilty," he says. "Am I the guilty one? Or is the Turkish government?"
FULL SYNOPSIS

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