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Russian diplomat calls violations of journalists' rights in Turkey crude

A Russian diplomat says journalists are being put behind bars just for doing their job in Turkey, which is an actual ban on profession

MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/. Violations of journalists’ rights in Turkey are massive and look very much like a professional ban, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s commissioner for human rights, democracy and rule of law, Konstantin Dolgov, said on Monday. He was speaking at a forum called New Era of Journalism: Good-bye to Mainstream.

"Violations of journalists’ rights in Turkey are strong, crude and massive. Journalists are being put behind bars just for doing their job. In fact, it is an actual ban on profession," Dolgov said. "True, there is a certain response, but the European Union prefers to take a very dubious stance: true, all this is not very good, but we are going ahead with our dialog. There are more important issues, such as migration."

"But no issues are more important than the basic fundamental human rights and freedoms. If Turkey is allowed to do that today, tomorrow the same will appear inside the European Union to a far greater extent. Particularly so, if one assumes that Turkey in 3000 or 4000 will become a member of the European Union," Dolgov said.