Norwegian PM questions Turkey’s respect for human rights

PanARMENIAN.Net - Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has praised Turkey’s democratic progress but questioned respect for free speech and media freedoms, joining mounting international misgivings over Ankara’s record.

Despite major advancements in human rights and women’s rights in recent years, Turkey faces “difficulties regarding freedom of expression, as many other countries have pointed out. The subject of whether journalists are working freely is also an issue,” Stoltenberg said during talks with Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek on Jan 9.

Çiçek responded the majority of jailed journalists were charged for terror-related offenses and not for their reporting activities and slammed European countries for failing to give Turkey adequate support against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“There is a misevaluation regarding journalists. They are not in prison for doing their job. They are in prison for being members of a terrorist organization, forging documents and other such illegal activities. Evaluating them as journalists would be a serious mistake,” he said, Hürriyet Daily News reported.