Turkey: Award-Winning Journalist Amberin Zaman Targeted With Death And Rape Threats
Location: Turkey
Date: November 8, 2022
Al-Monitor senior correspondent Amberin Zaman has been targeted with an odious online trolling campaign following her interview with Turkey’s opposition party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns the vicious smear campaign, death and rape threats against Zaman and demands accountability.
Speaking to CFWIJ, Amberin Zaman says she “was feeling extremely depressed for the first two days and somewhat fearful. Colleagues who like me face bogus terror charges in Turkey and can therefore not return have been physically assaulted abroad after facing similar campaigns. When government figures and the pro-government media lead the charge it legitimizes the abuse and helps incite violence.”
The smear campaign paired with death and rape threats came as a result of Zaman’s interview with Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP), the main opposition party to Erdogan’s government. Enduring hateful rhetoric and life-threatening intimidation has become the climate in which Zaman, along with many other journalists,must operate. However, this has also harvested resilience and solidarity in the field of journalism, especially amongst women journalists.
“I would add that the outpouring of solidarity and the support of media watchdogs has been immensely helpful on several counts. It helps counter the narrative that I am “a terrorist.” At the same time, it gives me a massive morale boost allowing me to carry on with my work.” says Zaman.
Amberin Zaman is an award-winning journalist and a senior correspondent for independent news source Al-Monitor. Zaman has reported from the Middle East, North Africa and Europe and has worked as a columnist for Al-Monitor for the past five years, focusing on examining the politics of Turkey, Iraq and Syria as well as writing the daily “Briefly Turkey'' newsletter. During her journalistic career, Zaman has covered the Kurdish-Turkish conflict for numerous prominent media outlets such as The Washington Post, The Telegraph, Los Angeles Times and Voice of America (VOA). Between 1999 and 2016, Amberin Zaman served as The Economist's Turkey correspondent. In addition, Zaman contributes to various newspapers throughout the world. Her writing is centered on minority rights issues in Turkey.
Zaman is an avid supporter of minority rights in Turkey. She is an advocate for normalizing Turkish-Armenian relations and reconciliation. Zaman recognizes the Armenian genocide as fact and believes that the Turkish government must make amends with its history concerning the Armenian people and grant them overdue reparations. Her support and acknowledgment of the Armenian genocide made Zaman the target of a libel campaign by pro-government media. In 2013, the journalist was fired from her position at HaberTurk due to her columns which were labeled as objectionable propaganda by the Turkish government.
Zaman was later viciously attacked on Twitter for her coverage of the Gezi Park protests. In 2014, the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, called her "A militant in the guise of a journalist, a shameless woman... Know your place!” and "scum" at two consecutive election rallies. Zaman wrote a column entitled "First be a human!" (Turkish: Önce insan ol!) as a response to the incriminations by the Prime Minister. Erdogan's rhetoric was condemned by a representative of the Organization for Security and Cooperation, The Economist, and the Turkish Journalists' Association (TGC). The accusations ensued a public apology campaign which collected 130 signatures demanding that the Prime Minister apologize for the use of chastising language against Zaman.
In January 2015, Zaman experienced a mass attack on Twitter for her reporting on the Charlie Hebdo shooting and again in December 2020 after covering a story about recruiting young Syrian Kurds into armed organizations. Recently, as of November 6, 2022, Zaman found herself yet again the target of an online smear campaign.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism strongly denounces the heinous campaign and threats faced by Amberin Zaman. We extend our full support to the renowned journalist and urge Turkish authorities to thoroughly investigate this case and those liable.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.
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