What if there was a museum to honour journalists, activists and human rights defenders who have been censored, arrested and worse for speaking the truth – and it was available all hours of the day? IFEX member Initiative for Freedom of Expression in Turkey has created just that. Read more about the unique resource currently in development below, and take a tour!
A trip to a museum should be educational, and a virtual tour through the Museum of Crimes of Thought – the ambitious and inventive free expression campaign project of IFEX member the Initiative for Freedom of Expression in Turkey (Antenna-TR) – is no exception.
With the click of the mouse, you can step inside Antenna-TR’s newly digitised campaign project documenting free expression abuses in Turkey and navigate the halls like a tourist in an actual museum. Once inside the digital space, you can check out the office of the prosecutor, step inside a realistic depiction of a Turkish courtroom, and learn more about how Turkish law has been maneuvered to stifle press freedom.
While informative and visually attractive, Antenna-TR’s museum also offers a look at the grave and often violent reality for those wishing to defend the right to free expression in Turkey.
At the gates of the museum, view news footage of clashes and violations, and towards the end of the tour, visit a digital cemetery honouring fatal victims of censorship and state aggression.
The museum does not simply commemorate journalists and free expression advocates who have been killed; Antenna-TR’s project showcases living individuals whose free expression rights are currently under threat. In 2013, Turkey topped the Committee to Protect Journalists’ list of the world’s worst jailers of journalists.
Outside of the prosecutor’s office and within the courtroom, you can access an updated list of Turkish citizens currently being prosecuted and their charges, including Ahmet Şık, winner of UNESCO’s 2014 Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, whose dogged journalism has placed him in the face of state intimidation and litigation.
Help Antenna-TR raise awareness of free expression violations in Turkey: explore the museum, and share this resource on Facebook or directly via Twitter on side panel to the right of the page!.
Are you inspired to develop a similar online museum to represent free expression violations in your country or region? Antenna-TR is eager to share their digital infrastructure and build a network of similar campaigns! Contact [email protected] for details.