Turkey: Erdogan adviser denies journalist crackdown

Turkey has not convicted anyone for what they have written or what they have done as journalists, the senior adviser to Turkey’s president has said.

Gulnur Aybet was responding to reports that Turkey is the world leader in imprisoning journalists.

When a person is arrested in Turkey they have to fill out a form which includes details of their profession, Ms Aybet explained.

“There are people who have written in that form that their profession is ‘journalist’, but they are not necessarily journalists,” she said.

If journalists are in prison then they have been convicted of crimes not related to their profession, Ms Aybet suggested.

Reality Check: The numbers behind the crackdown in Turkey

Watch the full interview on Monday 17 December 2018 on BBC World News and the BBC News Channel or watch again on BBC iPlayer (UK only)