Turkey's Hidden Truths Our World

media censorship and investigates why journalists so often find

themselves under attack from the authorities there.

Turkey. A jewel of the Mediterranean. A rising, buzzing

economy, attracting tourists from all over the world. But it has also

been a leading jailer of journalists. I am back in Turkey to

find out why. Covering the news has rarely been so difficult. The police

have just announced they will be using tear gas, warning people to

disperse immediately. The authorities here do not always want

people to know what is going on. The Government is tilting towards

authoritarianism, and seems to be less and less tolerant of any kind

of criticism. There are no checks and balances. The Turkish government

denies any press censorship. Instead, the Prime Minister Recep

Tayyip Erdogan, blames the foreign media for misrepresenting Turkey.

It is October 29, and the annual Republic Day parade in Istanbul.

Mustapha Kamal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, called it the

biggest festival. The country has just marked the 90th anniversary of

the Republic. People gathering here are not necessarily political. They

are families, mostly, but there are still divisions amongst the crowd

here. Some are pro-government, some anti-government. They are all

passionate about the future of Turkey, but with very different

views about what that future should be. Across town, that passion is

bubbling over. An anti-government protest has attracted a heavy police

presence. The journalists here seem to be free to do their job. But are

they? Last June, a small environmental protest to save the

park in central Istanbul lead to wider opposition against the

Government. It spread across the country, as police used force to

clear crowds. The protests grew day by day, and the violence continued

into the night. But the main Turkish news channels showed anything but

this breaking news. One had a discussion about schizophrenia, and

another, a film about Hitler. And CNN chose penguins. Meanwhile, local

journalists were trying to report on the protests. Some were caught up in

the police crackdown. Ahmet Sik is a widely respected and well-known

investigative reporter. He is convinced that he was targeted by

the police while covering the clashes last summer.

He was hospitalised, but returned to cover the protests a few days later.

Together with other journalists, he said he was targeted again by the

police. He has not only been targeted physically. In 2011, he was

jailed for a year. The Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip

Erdogan, talking about his book, said, books can be more dangerous

than bombs. This pro-government rally was held in Istanbul, just a

day after Gezi Park was cleared of the anti-government protesters. It

showed the huge support the Prime Minister has in the country. He has

won three consecutive elections, and almost 50% voted for him last time

round. He was clearly furious with the international media for their

coverage of the anti-government protests.

His criticisms became personal as well. I had been sent by the BBC

from London to cover the protests. In a speech to his party's MPs, the

Prime Minister took time to single me out.

It was my reporting from this park that attracted such official

condemnation. When the main protests in Gezi Park were broken up, people

started gathering in their local parks, like this one. I used to live

close to here, and my grandparents would bring me to this park and I

was a kid. At one protest here, I tweeted what the speakers were

saying. One woman called for an economic boycott for six months to

get the Government to listen. I quoted her in a tweet. That quote

was ascribed to me by the mayor of the Turkish capital Ankara as if I

had called for a boycott. He started a Twitter campaign against me,

calling me a British agent and a traitor which was followed by

thousands of rape and death threats. Months later, some journalists in

Turkey are still being intimidated by officials. There seems to be a

culture of intolerance to uncomfortable truths. This man, an

investigative journalist, is working on a sensitive story. He is covering

the death of a 19-year-old allegedly killed by police in last year's

protests. These pictures were recovered after

an attempt was made to delete them. The next day, he lapses into a coma

and died in month later. I travel to a city in the south to meet a

close-knit family. His brother and a lawyer shows me

around. After investigating the story, he

received an e-mail from the Governor of Eskisehir. The city where the

attack took place. The e-mail was sent at 4am.

He checked with the governor whether he had actually sent this message.

He had. Despite the threats, he is

determined to continue reporting the story.

Turkey's union of journalists says that over the last few months, more

than 200 journalists have been sacked or forced to resign for

covering issues about the Government backed by insensitive. And there

appears to be a creeping culture of self-censorship in Turkey. In a cafe

in central Istanbul, I meet two journalists who are both sacked from

their jobs with pro-government papers. My editors make it clear

that the pressure was not just coming from me and Rob the newspaper

but from the Government as well. How difficult is it to work in that

environment? You will hardly see a serious investigative piece on

corruption. No-one dares go there. As soon as you enter into proper

investigative journalism, you touch a lot of nerves, not only about the

Government, but the company that holds the asset of the outset you

are working at. Even here, there is disagreement about what journalism

is. There must be a division between activism and journalism. A lot of

our colleagues are unfortunately blending activism and... Surely

militancy and advocacy journalism doesn't warrant someone ending up in

jail. Absolutely. To say that Turkey is the biggest jailer of journalists

in the world is a fair description. Across town, at Turkey's biggest

courthouse, they make the same distinctions. Classifying

campaigning challenging journalism as unlawful, political activism.

Foreign observers say this is a political trial. That is what the

Prime Minister says. He says that we do not imprison journalists because

they are doing their jobs, no, we imprison them because they are

political activists. But they are all imprisoned because they have

done their jobs. More than 20 journalists are on trial here today.

The journalists' union has called a silent protest in support of them

and their families. There are just a few people here, not a great bunch.

And this is another sign that the unions are weak. And this shows that

the journalists in Turkey have to fight their own corners.

Seven of the journalists on trial here receive life sentences, not for

their journalism, the judges say, but terrorism.

There are many more journalists whose trials are taking place

elsewhere. Little wonder that some believe sweeping laws are being used

against journalists who stray too close to the red lines in Turkish

politics. I'm on my way to the Asean side of Istanbul. I am going to meet

the sister of Hussein, who is a Kurdish journalist who has been

imprisoner -- imprisoned for the last two years. More than half those

imprisoned are Turkish. How Turkey treats its Kurdish citizens has been

one of the most sensitive issues for decades.

She talks me through the case against her younger brother,

Hussein. She maintains he is a journalist, nothing more. This is

Hussein's yellow press card. A government-accredited press card.

Hussein is the Berlin correspondent for a leftish Turkish newspaper. But

he used to be the editor of a pro-Kurdish paper seven years ago. I

really feel sad and sometimes angry for my brother. In Turkey, people

are made to think that if someone asking for some rights, this is

something that some people are sort of angry. This kind of climate, I

think, is so dangerous in this country.

For Hussein's sister and lawyer, the charge that he's a member of the

terrorism organisation is, they say, ridiculous.

Terrorist act assist something related to violence. Because you

cannot show the violence. I mean, writing or talking about the Kurdish

issue is not terrorism. You don't like the idea, maybe, but

up cannot call it as terrorism, because you're just writing it, just

taking pictures. Censorship can be felt even in the

furthest corners of the country. I am travelling towards a border town

in southern Turkey. We are, like, metres away from the Syrian border.

This town is rebuilding. In May 2013, the town was rocked by

two explosions seen by many as retaliation for Turkey's

interference in the civil war in Syria.

53 people died. This 17-year-old student was one of

them. A local court banned the media from

broadcasting coverage of what was one of the deadliest attacks on

Turkish soil. The Prime Minister spoke in support of the ban.

This crisis in journalism is part of a wider polarisation in Turkish

society. Supporters of the government welcomed the economic

progress the country has made, and Turkey's aspiration to be a regional

power. But for many young, urban, liberal

people, the government's brand of Islamic conservatism is bringing

unwanted intrusion into their lives. There have been restrictions on the

sale of alcohol and plans to ban mixed-sex university accommodation.

There is even censorship at football matches.

These hardcore fans would normally be at the stadium tonight. But the

men have been locked out of this game.

Turkish football fans are always a passionate, noisy crowd. But since

the protests back in the summer, they are getting increasingly

political too. At the 34th minute at every game

since the summer protests, these fans begin a political chant.

They mean they will keep on protesting against the government,

everywhere, at every opportunity. But you wouldn't hear this protest

if you were watching the game at home.

When the chanting in the stadium starts, the Turkish broadcaster

switches off the sound. And the fans raise a glass

sarcastically to the Prime Minister's restrictive alcohol

policy. You'll find almost no criticism of

Mr Erdogan or his government here. This is a poorer, conservative

district of Istanbul. It is also where the Prime Minister grew up.

Just walking around this neighbourhood, you have a sense of

how popular Mr Erdogan is. Here is a picture of him about 40 years ago.

Autumn around there are pictures of him in every shop. His -- all around

there are pictures of him in every shop. His friend of 507 years used

to be a neighbour. He thinks Turkish papers write as

freely as in any European country. He says opposition journalists go

too far. Many share this view in Turkey. But

the government does not want to talk about press freedom right now. At

least not to the BBC. I have made repeated requests to

several government ministers, and the Prime Minister himself, for

interviews to let them have a chance to defend their case, their

position. But none of them, it seems, are willing to talk. And it

feels like the government is ready to criticise journalists but not as

willing to answer direct questions. These meetings of the families of

people who disappeared during Turkey's dirty wars of the past will

go on every Saturday until the hidden truths are exposed.

For investigative journalist Ahmet, the struggle continues to reveal the

story that is have been buried in Turkey.

As for taction yim Square, in the centre of Istanbul -- Taksim Square,

in the centre of Istanbul, everything is calm now. Little

evidence from the social earthquake of the summer, or its aftershocks.

What happened here is so symbolic. Fault lines in Turkey. There's a

generation wanting to be heard, there's a government refusing to

listen, and a media afraid to do its job. In a real democracy,

journalists should not be punished for telling the truth.

Turkey needs a fundamental shift in the understanding of journalism's

role in society. It can no longer be a propaganda tool.

But it must be seen for what it should be - an indispensable pillar

of democracy. Hello. The weather continues to keep

us on our toes over the next couple of days. After Friday's heavy rain,

the flood warnings were increasing. We had a number of severe flood

warnings in force. And, of course, with some high tides and some strong

winds, that flood risk will persist. Of the flood line number, if you're

concerned,