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Turkey Targets Foreign Journalists in Press Freedom Crackdown

Wyatt Redd

   Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan filed a criminal complaint
   Friday against a French magazine over a cover accusing him of "ethnic
   cleansing," according to the state-owned Anadolu Agency.

   The filing was thelatest example of efforts by the Erdogan government
   to restrict press freedoms in Turkey.

   The complaint filed against the French magazineLe Point's director,
   EtienneGernelle, as well as the editorinchief of the publication's
   international section, RomainGubert,wasbased on the cover of the
   October 24 issue, which depicts Erdogan saluting undertheheadline "The
   Eradicator," withthesubtitle "Ethnic cleansing: the Erdogan method."

   Prosecutors allegedthe cover constitutedan insult to the president, a
   crime under Turkish law commonly used to target journalists in Turkey,
   according to Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkeydirector for Human Rights Watch,
   an international NGO that conducts research and advocacy for human
   rights.

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