The Malta Independent on Sunday
Charges against Pelin Ünker must be dropped, says Casa ahead of visit to Turkey
● Turkish journalist faces jail time over Malta Paradise Papers reporting
Maltese MEP David Casa will be travelling to Istanbul next week to meet investigative journalist Pelin Ünker, her legal team, NGOs and press organisations.
Ünker is facing 13 months in prison in Turkey over her reporting of the Paradise Papers after she was found guilty of defaming and insulting former Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildrim and his two sons.
She had revealed that Yildrim’s two sons owned two companies in Malta: Hawke Bay Marine and Black Eagle Marine. Their ownership of these companies had been revealed in the 2017 Paradise Papers leaks, published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
The leak had enabled journalists to search for directors or shareholders of Maltese companies using data scraped from the Malta Financial Services Authority’s registry of companies, whose own publicly available database does not allow for such searches.
Ünker’s lawyer argued in the defamation case that the reporting about the Yildrims’ ownership of the two companies was in the public interest. “I did my duty as a journalist. The story was about public figures. I fulfilled my duty to announce the incident to the public. The right to reply was granted to him. I don’t think the story I did constitutes a crime,” Ünker said at the time.
Speaking yesterday about Ünker’s predicament, behind which dozens of MEPs have rallied, Casa said: “The case of Pelin Ünker, a journalist who was recently sentenced to 13 months’ imprisonment because of her factual reporting on the relatives of politicians, is a clear example of the state of media freedom in Turkey, and must be addressed. It is of great concern that she is also facing a second case on similar facts instituted by Turkey’s Finance Minister – the son-inlaw of President Erdogan.
“Pelin Ünker’s case has global significance because she reported facts that the complainants acknowledge to be true concerning their businesses in Malta”, he continued. “The sentence received international condemnation as it is the first time that a journalist has been sentenced to prison for reporting facts that are not disputed. It is also the first conviction of a journalist for reporting on the Paradise Papers. The conviction, if upheld, will have a profoundly chilling effect on what little is left of press freedom in Turkey.”
Casa has campaigned for greater protection for journalists across the European Union and has monitored the situation in Turkey very closely over the last 15 years as part of his role on the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee.
“Pelin Ünker is a young mother who will be separated from her two-year-old son, should this cruel sentence be enforced. These are not the actions of a country that aspires to eventually form part of the European Union. Sadly, it is clear that Turkey is further away from EU accession today than when it applied for membership so many years ago.
“Without substantial changes to the laws that regulate the press and how they are enforced, we will need to reassess whether there is any point in continuing to pursue the road to EU accession. My message to the Turkish authorities is clear: drop the charges against Pelin Ünker and reform the draconian press laws under which a third of the world’s journalists remain behind bars.
“Without a free press, democracy cannot function.”