Many Turkish journalists practice self-censorship for fear of offending Erdogan: The Economist

Many prominent Turkish journalists confess that they now practise self-censorship for fear of offending Mr Erdogan, writes The Economist in an article related to the EU annual report on Turkish where it touches upon the issue of press.

"There were some more positive passages in the commission's report. It cited somewhat better treatment of religious minorities, the easing of restrictions on Kurdish-language broadcasting, improvements to the penal code, new constitutional measures to increase civilian control over the army and an acceptance of Armenian-language textbooks in schools.

"But the commission was highly critical of the way Turkey treats its press. As many as 40 journalists are in jail awaiting trial or having been convicted. Several newspapers have sacked columnists who have been too critical of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) party of the Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The commission repeats its worries about assaults by the tax authorities on Turkey's biggest media conglomerate, the Dogan group, which began only after its reporters started digging into corruption among AK members. Many prominent journalists confess that they now practise self-censorship for fear of offending Mr Erdogan, writes the source.

Further it says that Turkish President Abdullah Gul largely rejects these concerns.

"He insists that freedom of the press is a cornerstone of Turkish democracy and declares that "everybody is free to write what they want." He has promised to look at legal or even constitutional amendments that might improve the protection of journalists but he says that most cases concerned leaks or the abuse of court-privileged information," the source adds.