Continuing to Think and Write While Voices are Silenced
Today, 3 May is World Press Freedom Day.
In 1993, the United Nations General Assembly declared that protecting the freedom of the press is part of human rights.
Since then, the day has been celebrated around the world as a reminder of the importance of press freedom.
But now, the word “celebration” seems like a foreign word next to this day.
We do not celebrate, we only remember.
We can only remember.
Because in the age we live in, we need permission to even talk about freedom.
Hundreds of journalists are repressed every year just because they seek the truth, just because they defend the public’s right to information.
They are silenced, detained, tried in courts and sentenced to penalties.
Journalism has become a shirt of fire.
Those who wear this shirt have to accept to pay the price from the beginning.
All over the world, there are people who are imprisoned just for asking questions.
There are those who are forced to live in exile just for writing.
And every year, there are journalists who lose their lives for refusing to silence their pen.
The latest report of Reporters Without Borders puts the picture clearly before us:
The pressure on the press continues to increase.
The world is drifting towards a darker place.
And where are we, Turkey, in this dark picture?
Unfortunately, we are at the bottom.
We are 158th among 180 countries.
This is not just a statistic;
This is a painful indicator of how justice, freedom and truth have been postponed.
Because we live in a country where journalists are put on trial, silenced and left unemployed.
We breathe in an atmosphere where journalism is criminalised.
We have been saying for years:
“Journalism is not a crime.”
And unfortunately we continue to wake up every morning with the same sentence.
However, making news, receiving news, thinking and discussing are the oxygen of a society.
When the press is silent, society is asphyxiated.
When the camera is switched off, justice becomes invisible.
When the pen breaks, the truth is lost.
And we know;
Where a society does not know the truth, hope, future and freedom slowly wither.
But there are still those who write.
Those who speak again even if they are silenced,
Those who find new ways even if they are closed,
There are those who continue to trace the truth in the darkness.
Because the pen passes from hand to hand.
Because when one voice is silenced, another voice rises.
Because freedom sooner or later breaks through walls.
I am also calling out from here:
Freedom of the press is not only a matter for journalists.
Freedom of the press is the conscience of a society.
A society that cannot hear the truth gradually loses its eyes and heart.
Today is 3 May.
It is no longer a day when freedom of the press is celebrated with enthusiasm.
It is a day when we feel the absence of a free press more, when we question it more.
But we still have hope.
Because hope cannot be destroyed by pressure.
Because the light of truth cannot be hidden forever even by the thickest curtains.
As long as the hands holding a pen multiply.
As long as our words resonate before the ink dries.
As long as every voice that is tried to be silenced gives birth to a thousand new voices.
And let us not forget:
Pursuing the truth is not a crime, it is the most honourable state of being human.
