A recent survey shows that nearly 60 percent of people in Turkey believe there is no freedom of press in their country.
According to a recent poll conducted by Ankara-based MetroPOLL Strategic and Social Research Center, which was based on interviews with 2,576 adults, 59.4 percent of Turks believe that the press does not have freedom of expression in the country.
The result also showed that only 35.6 percent of the respondents consider the Turkish press as unrestricted, while five percent declined to comment.
Last December, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) denounced Turkey for its intolerance towards free speech, describing the country as the “world’s worst jailor of journalists.”
According to the organization, there are 40 journalists behind bars in Turkey. The country has also been dubbed as the world’s “biggest prison” for journalists by Reporters Without Borders.
The MetroPOLL survey further showed some 62 percent of the interviewees believe that the Turkish judiciary system is not independent, while only 29.4 percent favor the opposite view. The remaining 8.5 percent also had no idea.
The independence of the judiciary has become a major concern for Turkey after the parliament passed a controversial bill in February, giving the government more control over the appointment of judges and prosecutors.