PARIS (voa) – The France-based media rights group, Reporters Without Borders, has removed a Paris display that sparked protests from Turkey and vandalism at the display site.
Paint-throwing protesters defaced the exhibit at the busy Saint-Lazare train station. The display was a huge map of the world laid out on the floor of the station with pictures of people the rights group calls “enemies of the press.”
A picture of Turkey’s Chief of Staff, General Huseyin Kivrikoglu, was included among the images of 38 heads-of-state or military leaders deemed responsible for attacks on press freedom in their countries.
A furious Turkey threatened Wednesday to review military ties with France over the display. The Turkish Foreign Ministry urged French authorities to take action against the media rights group for what it called an “ugly and unfounded show of disrespect.”
Reporters Without Frontiers said the violent reaction to the exhibit testifies to its point about supression of the press by Turkey. The group urged Turkey to keep the promises it has made to the European Union about human rights and respecting freedom of expression.
The display in the train station opened May 3 and was due to run for two weeks, but after the vandalism, it was taken down a week early.
