Turkey has the shameful distinction of imprisoning more journalists than any country in the world.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has compiled a list of 78 reporters, writers and editors now in jail, and the Turkish Press Council reckons the total may be twice as high. Now that a new government has assumed power, it has a timely opportunity to open those prison doors. Doing so would lessen a stain on Turkey's reputation and enhance the democratic credentials of Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz's secularist center-right coalition. In fact, under Turkey's broad Anti-terrorism Law, journalism itself is criminalized and reporters face prison for doing their job. An emblematic case is that of Ocak Isik Yurtcu, a prominent writer and former newspaper editor who has served three years of a 15-year sentence.