Kamil Pasha

Turks support freedom of the media in principle, but are one of the few peoples around the world divided on whether the government should have the right to restrict media freedom in order to maintain political stability. Nearly three in four (74 percent) Turks say that freedom of the media is important and 60 percent believe that people should have the right to read whatever they want on the Internet, according to the survey, conducted in 20 countries by World Public Opinion.org at the University of Maryland and released yesterday.

But … Turks are divided between thinking that the media has the right to publish news and ideas without government control (45 percent) and the government has the right to prevent the media from publishing things that it thinks will be politically destabilizing (42 percent). The results make Turkey one of only three countries where the public is divided on the issue; similar results were also obtained in Russia and Egypt.

Tags: Nationalism, Rights //