The Association of European Journalists (AEJ) - a coalition of 25 international human rights and journalists’ organizations, including Amnesty International, Article 19, PEN International and the AEJ -- has issued a joint statement to condemn Turkey’s ‘unjustifiable limitations’ on press freedom and its widespread abuses of fundamental human rights under the state of emergency that was extended for a further three months on Wednesday by government decree.

 The statement especially denounces Turkey’s removal of essential safeguards against the use of torture and arbitrary justice, and its mass closures of media outlets and arrests and imprisonment of journalists. It calls on Turkey to immediately revoke the state of emergency that was imposed in July within days of a failed and violent coup attempt. It also calls urgently on the European Union, the USA and international human rights bodies to publicly condemn these human rights violations, and to press Turkey to rescind the emergency laws at once.

The AEJ is an official Observer in the Council of Europe's Media Steering Committee.