The Committee to Protect Journalists joined the International Press Institute and other press freedom and human rights organizations in expressing concern over the denial of accreditation to Turkish journalists hoping to cover NATO’s summit in Ankara, Turkey on July 7-8.
Dozens of Turkish journalists, including staff from independent media outlets Halk TV, Sözcü TV, Nefes, BirGün, Cumhuriyet, ANKA News Agency, Medyascope, and T24, have been denied accreditation.
The press freedom and human rights organizations sent a joint letter to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte saying the accreditation denials were “a direct limitation on publicly available information and a deprivation of independent perspectives from Türkiye – for both the Turkish public and the international community.”
The signatories called on NATO to reconsider the rejections and restore accreditation to outlets that meet NATO’s own eligibility criteria, including the requirement for editorial independence.
Read the full statement here.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.