From Communications Director to US: Press Freedom is Backbone of Democracy

Click to read the article in Turkish

Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun has slammed the attack on state channel TRT World's team reporting the protests in the US following the death of George Floyd as a result of police violence.

Altun shared two brief messages on his Twitter account yesterday (June 2), one in Turkish and the other in English, and warned the US that "press freedom was the backbone of democracy."

"I condemn in the strongest possible terms today's attack against TRT World Senior Producer Lionel Donovan during the George Floyd protests in the United States. Press freedom is the backbone of democracy. I will raise this issue with the relevant US officials without delay," Altun has said.

I condemn in the strongest possible terms today’s attack against @TRTWorld Sr. Producer @LionelDonovan3 during the #GeorgeFloyd protests in the United States.

Press freedom is the backbone of democracy.

I will raise this issue with the relevant US officials without delay.

— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) June 1, 2020

CLICK - BİA Media Monitoring Reports

According to the latest Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index, Turkey has ranked 154th out of 180 countries in 2020.

What happened?

Reporting the protests in Washington and Minneapolis in the US following the death of Georgo Floyd as a result of police violence, the state channel TRT World team were injured by the plastic bullets and gas cartridges fired by the police to disperse the crowd at the night of June 1.

Sally Ayhan, the Washington correspondent of the channel, faced police intervention while she was talking about the protests in front of the White House and the security measures taken by the secret service.

While some protesters were injured in the intervention, Ayhan was also wounded in her chest and leg with plastic bullets.

Around the same time, police intervened against another TRT World correspondent, Lionel Donovan, and camera operator Barbaros Sayılgan in Minneapolis. Donovan was injured in his leg with a plastic bullet. (HA/SD)