Mr. Gerry Carson:

As the members of the committee can probably guess from my accent, I am from Belfast. I chair the Belfast and district branch of the NUJ. I thank the committee for the invitation, which relates primarily to the violation of media freedom in Turkey. Worldwide, journalists face dangers each day merely for doing their jobs. Sadly, the killers of journalists are getting away with murder throughout the world. The global impunity index, which is published by the Committee to Protect Journalists, which is a not-for-profit organisation based in New York, documents the top countries where the killers of journalists go unpunished and cases of journalists being killed remain unsolved. Somalia, Iraq and Syria are at the top of the list, which highlights countries where journalists are murdered and their killers go free. Extremist organisations like the Islamic State group and Al-Shabaab have repeatedly targeted journalists for murder. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Pakistan also feature on the index. Our focus today is on Turkey.

The NUJ is gravely concerned about the actions of the Turkish Government in restricting freedom of the press. There can be no justification for the sustained and systematic attack on journalists and media organisations. Democracy cannot be protected by attacking the very values one is supposed to be protecting. On 24 August last, the NUJ in Ireland made a presentation to the Turkish charge d'affaireshere in Dublin. We were received with courtesy, but we were disturbed by the strong insistence that national security considerations provide justification for the ongoing repression of human rights. On 15 July last, we wrote to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan. We were disappointed by the apparent lack of urgency in addressing our concerns, although we did receive a reply from the Minister on 10 October. The Minister raised the issue of threats to media freedom at a meeting of foreign affairs Ministers of the Council of Europe on 7 September. That meeting was attended by the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs. We welcome that intervention.

The NUJ has been working with the IFJ to monitor this situation. We have received detailed reports from our four sister unions in Turkey. My NUJ colleague from the UK, Mr. Barry White, and Mr. Ronan Brady, who is a member of the Irish executive council and a delegate to the IFJ's World Congress, are in attendance to give the committee an informed overview of the situation in Turkey. I invite Mr. White, who has served on the steering committee of the European Federation of Journalists, EFJ, to speak.