01.12.2017 Dear Mr President,
dear members of the AIPS Executive Committee,
we have major concerns regarding next year’s AIPS Congress. Given the current situation in Turkey, we cannot participate in the 2018 Congress to be held in Antalya.
Several media outlets in Turkey have been forcefully shut down and many Turkish journalists have been imprisoned for doing their job. Attending the Congress would signal that we as journalists do not object to these practices. We therefore believe that the actions of the Turkish government regarding freedom of the press and the treatment of our Turkish journalist colleagues call for a reaction.
We regret how this might affect our sports journalists colleagues in Turkey, who are of course not to blame in this unfortunate situation. We respect their effort in organising the Congress, and look forward to cooperating with them inside AIPS. Hopefully we can come to Turkey another time, when conditions for the Turkish press have improved.
On behalf of the Sports Journalists Associations in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.
Andreas Kraul Kalle Virtapohja
Danske Sportsjournalister Sportwriters Association Finland
Jean-Marc Michel Erich Laaser
Union des Journalistes de Sports en France Verband Deutscher Sportjournalisten
Eiríkur Stefán Ásgeirsson Petz Lahure
Sportpress.is Sportspress.lu
Gio Lippens Reidar Sollie
Nederlandse Sport Pers Norske Sportjournalisters Forbund
Lisa Edwinsson Janine Geigele
Svenska Sportjournalist Forbundet Sportpress.ch
dear members of the AIPS Executive Committee,
we have major concerns regarding next year’s AIPS Congress. Given the current situation in Turkey, we cannot participate in the 2018 Congress to be held in Antalya.
Several media outlets in Turkey have been forcefully shut down and many Turkish journalists have been imprisoned for doing their job. Attending the Congress would signal that we as journalists do not object to these practices. We therefore believe that the actions of the Turkish government regarding freedom of the press and the treatment of our Turkish journalist colleagues call for a reaction.
We regret how this might affect our sports journalists colleagues in Turkey, who are of course not to blame in this unfortunate situation. We respect their effort in organising the Congress, and look forward to cooperating with them inside AIPS. Hopefully we can come to Turkey another time, when conditions for the Turkish press have improved.
On behalf of the Sports Journalists Associations in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.
Hans Peter Trost David Naert
Sports Media Austria Sportspress.be Andreas Kraul Kalle Virtapohja
Danske Sportsjournalister Sportwriters Association Finland
Jean-Marc Michel Erich Laaser
Union des Journalistes de Sports en France Verband Deutscher Sportjournalisten
Eiríkur Stefán Ásgeirsson Petz Lahure
Sportpress.is Sportspress.lu
Gio Lippens Reidar Sollie
Nederlandse Sport Pers Norske Sportjournalisters Forbund
Lisa Edwinsson Janine Geigele
Svenska Sportjournalist Forbundet Sportpress.ch