The recent publication of a list of employees of Sputnik's UK bureau in The Times newspaper is an act that is far from being respectful of human rights and shows the "true face" of the West, deputy head of the Turkish Patriotic Party (Vatan) told Sputnik on Monday.
ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th December, 2018) The recent publication of a list of employees of Sputnik's UK bureau in The Times newspaper is an act that is far from being respectful of human rights and shows the "true face" of the West, deputy head of the Turkish Patriotic Party (Vatan) told Sputnik on Monday.On Sunday, following the example of Ukraine's Mirotvorets website, which is known for publishing private information of people who allegedly pose a threat to Ukraine's sovereignty, The Times published a list of eight journalists working at Sputnik's UK office in Edinburgh, complete with their photos, Names and job titles. The article also featured an appeal of Alex Cole-Hamilton, a member of the Scottish parliament from Scottish Liberal Democrats, to deprive Russian nationals living in Scotland and engaged in "information warfare" with the aim of destabilizing the United Kingdom of their assets in the country.
"The UK has once again demonstrated that it is not the cradle of human rights, which it easily crushes in the name of its interests. Whatever the claims, but the publication of photos, names and positions of agency employees, which poses an open threat of life to employees of Sputnik, and the calls from the lawmaker of the Parliament of Scotland is not justice. This is the true face of the West," Oktay Yildirim said.
He also stressed that journalists around the world, including Turkish ones, must oppose such actions.
In response to The Times article, Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Sputnik and the RT broadcaster, on Monday congratulated the United Kingdom on the "upcoming 1933," a reference to the year Nazi leader Adolf Hitler became German chancellor and ordered a decree enabling government control over the press.
Ukraine's Mirotvorets website started the practice of publishing lists containing the personal information of individuals who are considered to be "enemies of Ukraine," including Ukrainian and foreign journalists who covered the military conflict in Donbas, public figures who visited Crimea, and others. Following the publication of their personal data, some of these people faced personal threats. Such actions have been widely criticized in Russia and some other states.
In early December, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) issued a decision on the safety of journalists, reaffirming "all relevant OSCE commitments on the right to freedom of expression." Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said the document "reflects concerns about the illegal interference in journalists' private lives that could threaten their safety." She used Mirotvorets as an example of a website that "contained personal data of journalists of a number of OSCE countries."
