German, Turkish NATO governments censor G20 journalists

This 6 July 2017 video is called Germany: Journalist knocked down by police officer during G20 protests, Hamburg.

Consternation in German press about locking journalists out of G20 summit

Today, 17:56

At the G20 summit in Hamburg last week, the admission certificates of 32 journalists were annulled. Four of them have worked in Kurdish areas in southeastern Turkey in the past. The German press suspects that Turkey has put pressure on the German government to prevent journalists from getting access to the G20.

The journalists’ accreditations were taken away without giving reasons. A photographer of the magazine Der Spiegel had collected his accreditation on Wednesday but was no longer admitted to the conference center in Hamburg on Friday.

Government spokesman Steffen Seibert claimed that the decision was taken only on the basis of German intelligence. NOS correspondent Jeroen Wollaars says that Seibert is always believed uncritically by the German media. It is remarkable that this is not the case now.

Photos

The journalists Chris Grodotzki and Björn Kietzmann went to the press with their story. They worked together near Diyarbakir in Southeast Turkey, where they had taken photos. Both were arrested for accusation of espionage and held imprisoned for one and a half day. They think that this event in Turkey is the background of the withdrawal of their G20 admission certificate.

Turkish journalist Adil Yigit, whose accreditation was also withdrawn, also points at the Turkish government. He took a picture of President Erdogan with the head of the Turkish secret service in Hamburg. Yigit suspects that the Turkish intelligence service has passed that on to the German service.