Turkey should encourage free speech, not crack down: OSCE

VIENNA: The OSCE on Friday encouraged Turkey to promote more free speech rather than cracking down on it, following a rise in the number of reporters in prisons over the past year.

"Freedom of expression cannot stop at speech deemed appropriate by the authorities," Dunja Mijatovic, the media representative of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, said in a statement.

"Authorities should fight speech they deem offensive by encouraging more speech and greater debate of all issues of public importance," she added.

She also said she hoped charges "will be dropped soon" against Ahmet Sik, a Turkish journalist, who with a dozen other suspects has been charged with allegedly plotting against the Islamist-rooted Turkish government.

Sik and another prominent journalist were freed in March, a year after being arrested, but they still face prison terms of up to 15 years if found guilty.

In April, the OSCE said the number of journalists in jail in Turkey had risen to 95 from 57 a year ago, calling it a "worrisome" trend.

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Turkey should encourage free speech, not crack down: OSCE