Erdogan complains against Le Point: "It's a real censorship at a distance"

INTERVIEW

Tension rises between Turkish President Recep Erdogan and the weekly Le Point . At the heart of the controversy: the first this week of the magazine where we see the portrait of the head of state who makes the military salute, with this title: The eradicator . The latter has lodged a complaint against two journalists: Etienne Gernelle, the editor of the publication, and Romain Gubert, the international editor, on behalf of article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code which punishes any offense to the head of state.

"Why The Eradicator ? Because Erdoğan is doing ethnic cleansing, it is not a threat, he is doing it." He did it in 2018 in Afrin (northwestern Syria, ed ), he begins again, it is necessary to stop making euphemisms ", defended Etienne Gernelle Wednesday, at the microphone of Philippe Vandel in Culture media on Europe 1 The journalist also claims a cover" islamistophobe ". "Erdogan is an Islamist, he is close to the Muslim Brotherhood, he is a propagandist of political Islam, including in France, we do not defend Islamists, that's for sure!"

Will we let him slaughter the Kurds (and threaten Europe)? #Erdogan, the eradicator: our record of the week ➡ https://t.co/N3Qbnxa4qy@RTErdoganpic.twitter.com/OFBI7RWnd7

Above all, Etienne Gernelle believes that it is less of an editorialized title than informative, because supported by him by the work of investigation of the journalists of the Point. The magazine denounces the Turkish offensive in northern Syria as a pretext to drive the entire Kurdish community settled in this area. "There were reports on the spot where the displaced populations, summary executions, fear of the inhabitants are told, and the alliances between the Turks and Daesh and Al Qaeda elders are told. Turks are allied with jihadists, "he says.

Article 299, a tool for repressing oppositions

Recep Erdogan had already taken to the front of the Point in May 2018. The magazine had titled even stronger: Erdogan the dictator . In Paris, supporters of the Turkish president had snatched posters from the Point and threatened kiosquiers who sold the title. Faced with this new complaint, Etienne Gernelle denounces a form of "political censorship" on the part of Ankara. "This is something that prevents us from working, I can not send journalists to Turkey under these conditions, at least not in an official way," he slips. "We must also be careful in countries where we go, we do not know the conditions of extradition of Turkey with others," adds the boss of the Point . "It's a real remote censorship, or an attempt, in any case, because we will not give up anything," he says.

In Turkey, some 60 journalists have already been sentenced under Article 299, and about 10 judicial proceedings are ongoing. Article 299 has thus become one of the main means of the repressive arsenal used by the administration of Recep Erdogan. "Article 299 comes back on the scene every time reporters question political corruption, that columnists criticize Erdogan's authoritarian behavior," Reporters Without Border representative borders in Turkey. "But this is the first time foreign journalists have been the subject of a judicial inquiry on the basis of this article." According to Turkish law, offenders face up to four years and eight months in prison.