Is the EU a guarantor of the free press?

Within this framework, the EU forsees a country that fits the Copenhagen Criteria. This criteria is set forth to ensure that the country’s institutions protect democracy, the rule of law, human rights and that the protection of these rights are stable.

Ensuring that Turkey implements these criteria is an obligation for the EU. Otherwwise, the most fundamental condition for entry into the union will not have been met. The most basic definition of democracy offers that the exercise of power be limited and that the necessary mechanisms of checks and balances be observed. The ability of the check and balances mechanism to work is contigent on the freedom of the press. It is this freedom that is the fundamental condition for a healthy and thriving democravy.

In this regard, a free press is required condition of the Copenhagen Criteria. Just as the EU has the charge to see that civil authority trumps military might, so it must insist upon a free press as well and nurture the freedom of the press. This is its raison d’etre.

Let’s recall last year for a moment. The closing case against the AKP was such a departure from the Copehnhagen Criteria that the EU voiced, quite loudly, its concerns. This was not unwarranted. It would be the first time in the history of EU accession talks that a full membership party candidate country would see the closure of its ruling party.

In the midst of continuing negotiations the EU will come face to face with other uniquely Turkish problems. One example of this is the continued targeting and calls for boycoting of a certain media group by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Prime Minister continues his assault on the group with phrases like "do not give them money," "do not let them into your homes," and "doom them to oblivion."

The Prime Minister with phrases like these makes his intentions to economically damage the Dogan Group, which includes my newspaper Milliyet as well as the Daily News, crystal clear.

Calling for a press boycott shows neither a culture of democracy or a regard for the Copenhagen Criteria. Therefore when the head of the state is at the lectern, in campaign stop after campaign stop, calling for the public to inflict economic damage on a press group, it is inevitable that when the bureucratic machinery comes after the same organization with an astronomically hefty tax fine, the two actions are mutually reinforcing.

In reality it is important to look at the circumstances from a different point of view. The ownership of media enterprises has undergone an important transformation of late. Today, a sizable portion of the newspapers and TV channels operating in the country support the current administration. And in a democracy one can support whomever one wants.

But it is also important that if we are speaking about a democracy that there is a media organization that can criticize the administration and publish articles about, for example, the Lighthouse e.V. corruption case that are free from the pressures of the administration.

In this respect it is important to view circumstances from the view of the Copenhagen Criteria and search for answers to the following questions: What kind of situation does it create when news organizations and journalists who take a position against the administration are either silenced or threatened?

Does a democracy within which only pro-government media organizations are allowed to function meet the Copenhagen Criteria?

Perhaps it is time for EU governments and the EU commission to start asking themselves these questions.

In last November’s EU Progress Report on Turkey, the EU Commission drew attention to the "pressures on the press" and suggested that it is necessary to create an environment in which the freedom of the press is respected. This was a correct assessment. However since last November the situation has become even more dire. In light of this assessment, the period we are faced with today serves as a test for whether or not the EU is enough of an assurance for freedom of the press in Turkey.

Sedat Ergin is editor-in-chief of daily Milliyet.