A journalist and free speech activist, IFEX Council member Erol Önderoglu works for the IPS Communication Foundation – Bianet, and Reporters without Borders. He was imprisoned for 20-30 June 2016, after participating in a solidarity campaign with a Kurdish newspaper, and continues to be charged with “terrorist propaganda.”
IFEX 30 June 2016
In an interview with Protection International in 2011, Turkish journalist Erol Önderoglu reflects on the consequences of free expression in Turkey:
…everybody knows that if you cross the red line – even though you have the right to express yourself – you’ll have to stand in front of a prosecutor the following day, or more.
Erol Önderoglu is a journalist and free speech activist born in Istanbul, Turkey. After studying French philology at the University of Istanbul, Önderoglu joined the IPS Communication Foundation – Bianet, as a journalist, in 1995. The following year, he joined Paris-based NGO Reporters without Borders (RSF) as its Turkey correspondent. He continues to work for both organisations, which are active members of IFEX, the global network of organisations committed to defending and promoting the right to freedom of expression and information. Önderoglu was elected to the IFEX Council in 2015. He also works with the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media on publications and projects.
Throughout his career, Önderoglu has been committed to supporting fellow journalists and defending free speech. He speaks about covering issues that minorities face, and denounces attempts to censor such coverage. In an interview with Protection International, he noted: “When journalists speak about problems – the unemployment of the Alevi minority, for example – or the discrimination this community suffers, [they] should be protected by these laws, but in fact it’s not the case. These journalists are liable to jail, while nationalist circles allow themselves to set other groups of the population against minorities, such as the Kurds, the Armenians, [and] the Greeks…”
On 20 June 2016, Turkish authorities arrested Önderoglu, along with forensic doctor and head of Human Rights Foundation of Turkey Sebnem Korur Fincani and journalist and writer Ahmet Nesin.
The three were charged with “terrorist propaganda” for participating in a solidarity campaign in which journalists and activists have been taking turns acting as co-editors of the Kurdish daily newspaper Özgür Gündem to protest its persistent harassment by judicial authorities. They were among 44 journalists and activists who have participated in the solidarity campaign that began on 3 May 2016, World Press Freedom Day.
Önderoglu’s arrest prompted an international outcry. RSF launched a petition urging authorities to release him and his colleagues, and to drop all charges. IFEX members from around the world expressed their support via statements and social media, and representatives of international bodies, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moonand OSCE media freedom representative Dunja Mijatovićm also called for his immediate release.
On 30 June 2016, Bianet announced that Önderoglu and his colleague Şebnem Korur Fincancı had been released from prison, but that the charges against them remain. The status of Ahmet Nesin has yet to be confirmed.
RSF continues to urge individuals to sign the petition for the charges against Önderoglu and his colleagues to be dropped.
[Last Updated: 30 June 2016]
The article was published by IFEX and is republished here with permission.