News
Show news feed

A brand ''Samast'' named after Ogün Samast, who shot dead Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, has been created in Turkey.

Member of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) said the aforementioned at the discussion of the report on freeing the press from political influence and ensuring the security of journalists and media.

In her speech, Naira Zohrabyan noted, in particular: ''An article on ''offending the president'' has been introduced in the Azerbaijani Criminal Code, which is also in force in Turkey. It was also informed that the family of Ogün Samast has requested the trademark registration agency of Turkey and received a permission to register the brand ''Samast.''

This serious issue presented by our colleague Stefan Schennach cannot be a topic of merely one or two reports or one or two discussions. Freeing media from political influence, as well as the issue of all kinds of pressure on media is number one challenge in some of the Council of Europe countries. Yes, Mr Schennach, you are quite right when recording that the EU member states should not only guarantee the security and media freedom of journalists but should also struggle against all the obstacles, which can emerge when providing free and unbiased information to the public.''

She asked Mr Schennach to refer in his concluding speech to the aforementioned amendment to the Azerbaijani Criminal Code, which makes the Azerbaijani media work under the Damocles' sword of daily censorship.  

''The same notorious article is also effective in Turkey, where an open witch hunt for  media outlets and journalists has been launched. Currently, investigation has been launched against the administration of CNN Turk simply for citing certain expressions regarding Erdoğan.

At a special discussion regarding the freedom of press in the Council of Europe recently, ECHR Vice President also noted that the worst situation of freedom of speech is in Turkey and Azerbaijan, recording that the CoE cannot watch calmly the actions of the Turkish and Azerbaijani authorities. But, frankly speaking, I have so far seen the CoE watch calmly Turkey and Azerbaijan prosecute, intimidate, threaten and kill journalists when fulfilling their professional duties. In fact, according to Reporters without Borders, Azerbaijan ranks 162nd among 180 countries in the 2017 World Press Freedom Index and as a non-free country.

Moreover, considering the deepening intimidation and obstacles against media and journalists, Reporters without Borders demands creating the office of Special Representative of reporter security, who will operate adjunct to the UN Secretary General. I would also like to inform the parliament that Turkey, where the freedom of press is in a mournful state, seems to have decided to heroize killers of journalists: according to Radical daily, the relatives of Ogün Samast, who shot dead Armenian editor Hrant Dinl, applied to the Turkish trademark registration agency and received a permission to register the brand 'Samast.'

Thus, I propose setting up a special working group in our committee of Assembly dealing with press issues in order to study the alarming situation and violence against journalists in Azerbaijan and Turkey.

I would like to conclude my speech with the words of Mehman Aliyev, Director of Azerbaijan's Turan Information Agency: ''The key journalism principle of serving the truth has been deformed in Azerbaijan.'' I think our next step should be to seriously study the concerns raised in Stefan Schennach's report and take very specific countersteps.''

!
This text available in   Հայերեն and Русский
Print
Read more:
All