European Parliament violated freedom of press with Daily Sabah ban, Turkish Law Platform says

"The Daily Sabah which is published within the Turkuvaz Media Group and distributed within the European Parliament ("EP") only on Tuesdays has been prohibited by the EP with a scandalous ban," the statement said.

"With such a prohibition, the EP has implemented a practice which violates the ECHR and clearly violated the freedom of the press and the people's right to [receive and impart] information and ideas," the platform added in the statement.

Advancing its criticisms, the platform said that the EP's belief in the EU's core values was 'weak'.

"While the EP expresses repeatedly that freedom of expression, and free and independent media are the core values of the European Union, it is a great contradiction that a Dutch EP member, Jeroen Lenaers, urges the EP to ban the distribution of Daily Sabah and the EP accepts and acts in accordance with such a request [so] quickly," the statement continued.

Pointing out that the EP's ban was hypocritical, the law platform criticized the EP for acting on "a demand made by a Dutch politician with the excitement of real politics" even though it violated the freedom of the press --an EU fundamental right.

It also strongly condemned the prohibition and urged the EP to act immediately in accordance with the law.