"The Press and Freedom" Discussed by Oktay Ekşi
BY CÜNEYT YILMAZ (ECON/IV)
Oktay Ekşi, currently a Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy in the Turkish Grand National Assembly and the former chief columnist of the daily newspaper Hürriyet, visited Bilkent University on Wednesday, December 7. Organized by Atatürkçü Düşünce Topluluğu, the lecture was entitled "Basın ve Özgürlük" (The Press and Freedom), a hot topic on Turkey's agenda lately. A large audience of students was there to hear what Mr. Ekşi had to say about the latest events.
He began his talk by stating that although the Turkish press is often considered to have originated with Takvim-i Vekayi, a newspaper published during the Ottoman period, it would be better to regard its inception as Ceride-i Havadis, a semiofficial Turkish newspaper. He proceeded to give an evaluation of the progress of the Turkish press since its beginnings and, comparing the later periods of the Ottoman Empire to the current situation, rated the former as more faorable in terms of press freedom.
Mr. Ekşi also mentioned Ahmet Işk, an investigative journalist who was detained on March 3 and has been in jail since then, and questioned the rationale of an unpublished book being seen as evidence of a crime. Referring to a distrustful atmosphere in society, he related it to the fear some felt of being wiretapped.
At the end of his lecture, Mr. Ekşi took questions from the audience. His responses were eloquently expressed as well as sincere in manner.