Newsroom
The European Commission on Wednesday expressed concern over attempts to restrict press freedom in the Turkish Cypriot community, following reports that Turkey sought the extradition of veteran journalist Şener Levent.
Commission Executive Vice President Raffaele Fitto said the EU “views with concern attempts to undermine freedom of expression and media pluralism in the Turkish Cypriot community,” responding to a parliamentary question from Cypriot MEP Costas Mavrides.
Media reports in July said Levent, a longtime critic of Turkey, had been ordered to appear before prosecutors in Ankara within 10 days or face extradition. No extradition request has been filed, and the Turkish Cypriot “foreign ministry” denied the reports, calling them “disinformation.”
Levent, who ran the Afrika newspaper in the occupied north, has faced repeated legal action over his work, including a 2017 cartoon depicting a Greek statue urinating on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. A Turkish court sentenced him in absentia to one year in prison for insulting Erdoğan, though defacto northern "courts" acquitted him of related charges.
Fitto said Turkey, a Council of Europe member and EU candidate, is expected to uphold human rights commitments. “The targeting of media and journalists runs counter to these commitments,” he said, urging Turkey to reverse the negative trend in recent years.
Last month, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides called on EU leaders to monitor the case, stressing that Turkish Cypriots, as EU citizens, are entitled to full protection of their rights.
With information from Stockholm Center for Freedom.
