By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, March 5 -- After Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for an hour on March 5, Ban's spokesman agreed to postpone his noon briefing for at least half an hour so Davutoglu could hold a press conference in the UN Press Briefing Room.
But in that, Davutoglu's spokesman announced there would be only six questions: three from “UN” journalists and three from Turkish media, in Turkish.
Even that didn't hold. The first question was set aside for the UN Correspondents Association, become the UN's Censorship Alliance, here and here, which gave the question to its (Turkish) vice president from TRT, about Turkey's fight against terrorism.
Next came Al Jazeera, about Staffan de Mistura's failing plan in Syria, then a hard-working Egyptian journalist about Egypt - Turkish relations. That was it.
Inner City Press would like to know, among other things, if the topic of the Rohingya in Myanmar came up in the meeting with Ban -- an issue Davutoglu and Turkey have previously raised, and which Inner City Press covers, for example here.
On the financial issued that consumed most of Davutoglu's visit in New York, does Citigroup's sale of its stake in Akbank at a loss signify a run to the exits?
None of the three questions brought of freedom of the press. Inner City Press when it was over asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access, if he would postpone the UN briefing for the prime ministers of all other UN member states. Dujarric said he is accommodating. We'll see.
Dujarric also said that press freedom was NOT on Ban's agenda when he met with Davutoglu. For an hour.
Davutoglu had said, in answer to a question in Turkish about his country's incursion into Syria, that he spoke with Ban Ki-moon (whom he called “Mister Moon”) before the incursion, and Ban hadn't offered any criticism -- seemingly, a green light.
Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Dujarric to confirm this call, and Dujarric refused. One might ask, how may green lights are being given, or seen? We'll have more on this.
