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Freedom House report on Turkey misguided

The recent Freedom House report ranking Turkey low in press freedom overlooks Turkey’s progress, including in how the press addresses Kurdistan, the Armenian genocide and criticism of the government.
Protesters march to Agos newspaper office during a demonstration to mark the seventh anniversary of the killing of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul January 19, 2014. Dink, the former editor-in-chief of weekly Agos, was shot dead in front of his newspaper building by a Turkish nationalist, who had been sentenced to over 22 years in jail. Protesters also denounced the trial process of several top suspects, whose acquittal was recently overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeals, according to

Turkey obviously has problems with its freedom of press and expression. I had acknowledged this reality in my two previous Al-Monitor articles. But it is also true that significant progress has been achieved in freedom of expression over the past 10 years. Until a few years ago, "Kurdistan" was a taboo word. Anyone who used it would instantly be declared a traitor by the mainstream media, and prosecutors would seek prison sentences for the offenders.

Turkey today may still have some problems, but the former Kemalist regime was an outright hell. The Turkish press had to call Kurdistan “Northern Iraq.” This nonsense is done with. Today, many writers freely refer to Turkey’s southeast as North Kurdistan. In the old Turkey, if you called Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan “Mr. Ocalan,” your media career would have ended right there. If you spoke of Ocalan, you had to add "master terrorist.” Today, many commentators appear on major TV channels and praise Ocalan’s political attitude. Only extreme nationalists and the pro-Fethullah Gulen movement media denounce Ocalan and the Kurdish movement these days.

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