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Obama Should Ask Erdogan To Respect Press Freedom in Turkey

Turkey can only lead the region if it really strengthens its democracy and respects freedom of expression and press freedom.
An injured journalist is filmed and helped by his colleagues during clashes between riot police and May Day protesters in central Istanbul May 1, 2013. Turkish riot police clashed with thousands of May Day protesters in Istanbul on Wednesday, firing water cannon and tear gas at crowds that tried to break through barricades to reach the city's main square, witnesses said. The incidents followed the pattern of recent years, when May Day demonstrations in Turkey's largest city have often been marked by clashes

If US President Barack Obama brings up the controversial issue of freedom of speech tomorrow [May 16], at his meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House, it would be the most surprising news of all. Not only is the US administration facing its own flap over the seizure by the Justice Department last year of phone records at The Associated Press, the world's most widely disseminated news service, Turkey has long been mired in issues of press freedom even as it espouses such values.

Wiretapping of media personalities and acquiring access to the privileged information of journalists is commonplace in Turkey. While no government is perfect in holding up the highest standards of press freedom, there are still major differences between civil rights and their implementation in Turkey and the United States. Even as the imperfections in the United States make the rest of the world question the sincerity of its democratic principles, Max Hoffman and Michael Werz of the Center for American Progress, question Turkey's role as a "model" for the rest of the Muslim Arab world in transition to democracy in their new study, “Freedom of the Press and Expression in Turkey,” released on May 14. 

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