Mr Prime Minister, Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

I have great pleasure in welcoming you on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers to the Opening Ceremonies of the 57th World Newspaper Congress and 11th World Editors Forum.

No less than 1,000 publishers, editors, senior managers and guests from newspapers in 85 countries have come to these conferences, making this event one of the largest in the history of our organization.

To begin, if you will forgive me, on a personal note, I would like to express my profound pleasure in being President of WAN in the year that these conferences are finally being organized in Turkey. Your country, Mr Prime Minister, is one that I learned to know very well and to respect deeply when I used to come here many times each year in my role as an economist at The World Bank, before I entered the media.

That was a long time ago and I observe that Turkey has changed considerably in the intervening years. Not least, I must say, in the field which is of the greatest interest to my colleagues who have come here to Istanbul today from around the world - that of freedom of information and freedom of expression.

In truth, as I have remarked before, the World Association of Newspapers has for many years declined invitations to hold these meetings in Turkey, despite our excellent relations with the media here. As an organization which defends and promotes freedom of the press, we have not been at all satisfied about the level of that freedom and have not found it appropriate to formally meet here.

At the same time, we have never abandoned our dialogue with the Turkish authorities, in order to urge improvements. WAN representatives have visited this country often and have met, at various times, with State leaders, senior government officials and even the leaders of the Armed Forces, to express our concerns and to discuss human rights abuses and press freedom violations.

On the night of your party’s election victory, Mr Prime Minister, less than two years ago, you promised - and I quote - “a more meaningful and different era in terms of basic rights and freedoms”. It is not for me to judge in the place of the Turkish people whether that election night engagement has been upheld by your government to their full satisfaction. But I do feel confident and comfortable in recognising significant advances in the field of freedom of expression and that is why WAN is able to come to Istanbul this year with a good conscience and in a positive frame of mind.

A series of reform measures in recent years have abolished or modified many laws used in the past to restrict freedom of expression and prosecute and imprison journalists and human rights activists. The Prime Minister is intimately aware of one at least one of them, since he was personally jailed in 1999 for making a speech in which he quoted four lines from a poem which in no way advocated violence. At the same time, a new Right to Information Act came into force just a few weeks ago.

Yes, Turkey is indeed making major strides towards greater respect of human rights. This is not to say, however, that any of us can be fully satisfied and I suspect the Prime Minister will agree with me. Limitations of free expression remain possible in both law and in practice and from time to time we still observe cases which suggest that it is not yet fully possible to defend and promote human rights here without fear of harassment or prosecution. I would simply and respectfully encourage your government, sir, to continue to eliminate these limitations and to make sure that rights are always protected in practice.

The Turkish people are a very proud people and you may wonder what Prime Minister Erdogan feels when I or anyone else give him advice on these questions. I am happy to tell you that he sees such advice in a positive light. In a speech at Harvard University earlier this year, the Prime Minister said that if countries in the Middle East perceived the advice to democratize as ill-intentioned foreign intervention, they were mistaken. International institutions and third countries had, he said, made essential contributions to the development of some of the most advanced democracies. Mr Erdogan recognized that globalisation had advanced the democratic ideal and that in Turkey’s own democratization process he clearly saw the benefits of interaction with the outside world.

We all know that 2004 is an important year for Turkey, which has chosen to seek membership of the European Union and awaits later this year to learn if and when the negotiation process for that end will begin. It is not for the World Association of Newspapers to have an opinion either way in this debate, which has now also become a leading issue in many European countries in the elections in two weeks time.

But I do think it is right to underline the potential role that modern Turkey can play on the world stage in demonstrating that a major Muslim country can promote and enjoy tolerance, democracy and full human rights, including the vital right of every citizen to receive free information and express himself freely. These rights and other basic democratic values are outlawed or severely restricted in the great majority of countries with predominantly Muslim populations and positive examples are in great need, particularly in this region where Turkey can exert additional influence.

The general conditions for press freedom in the world have clearly deteriorated in recent times. Freedom House, a non-governmental organization which annually tracks media independence levels in one hundred and ninety three countries, said recently that 2003 saw the second consecutive year of decline in the freedom of news media. WAN itself continues to remark the proliferation of restrictions to freedom of information through national security laws and other measures introduced by governments in the name of the fight against international terrorism, but oftenin truth, as a pretext to silence independent media.

I would like to repeat today what I have said on several occasions but which has not, I feel, yet been fully grasped by the international community of democratic nations: the breeding grounds of terrorism lie, and have always lain, for the most part in those countries which have eliminated or severely restrict the free flow of information, ideas and debate. Hatred and the violence it engenders grow best in the shadows, away from the bright spotlight of open scrutiny. And that is why aid and development programmes and the foreign policy of democratic nations must forego the benefits of short term political expediency and military alliances and demand and invest in the establishment of free media.

The Nobel Economics laureate from India, Amartya Sen, put the argument very well in an article he wrote for the World Association of Newspapers for World Press Freedom Day three weeks ago. Arguing that press freedom can enrich human lives, enhance public justice and help to promote economic and social development, he said: “In addition to the direct contribution of press freedom to the quality of human life, it also has an important protective function in giving voice to the neglected and the disadvantaged, which can greatly contribute to human security.”

Marianne Pearl, widow of the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, murdered in such atrocious circumstances in Pakistan less than two years ago, made a similar, even more explicit argument, in an interview with WAN, also for World Press Freedom Day. “Though physically violent”, she said, “terrorism is really a mental battle. By their attacks, terrorists are trying hard to instil fear and distrust. Journalists need to help voices to be heard”, she continued, “particularly in the Muslim world where people have fear of expressing themselves. Sometimes only extremists use that freedom of expression right. They yell and shout, occupying the public space”. Remarking that there can be “no peace without communication”, Mrs Pearl said that her husband Danny’s murder “made me even more convinced that journalists have a crucial role to play in the years to come”.

I can only agree with that. The role of the free media and good, independent , honest journalism indeed have become even more important in our deeply divided and troubled world. I must say, however, that the mission of the press is not becoming any easier. In dozens of countries across the world, many of them represented among our colleagues in this hall, publishers and journalists are victims of ruthless regimes and criminal organizations. Almost on a daily basis, they are murdered, assaulted, detained and harassed, as their publications are censored, fined, suspended and closed down.

WAN recorded fifty-three media workers killed on duty in 2003 and a further 25 already in the first five months of this year. At least seven hundred and sixty six media employees were arrested last year, one thousand four hundred and sixty of them were aggressed and five hundred media were censored or suspended. Though twenty-nine of the journalist deaths both last and this year have occurred in the Iraqi conflict, many media employees were killed working in their home countries, some of them tracked down and assassinated for their investigating journalism.

As each year at this Congress and Editors Forum, I would like to reiterate on behalf of all of us the commitment of our organization to work tirelessly and even more actively to oppose these violations of freedom of the press.

We have several exciting days in front of us this week in Istanbul. The professional challenges of publishing and editing newspapers remain very complex and demanding, as the information needs and tastes of our audiences continue to evolve, as technological development shows no signs of slowing down and as competition for advertising revenues intensifies.

The programmes of our conferences here are in themselves evidence of the vibrancy and positive spirit in our industry faced by these challenges. If you look through the themes the speakers have submitted, you will find words like “winning”, “innovation”, “growth”, “success” in many of them. I have no doubt at all that these speakers will live up to their promise and demonstrate that our industry is aggressively exploiting a whole new range of opportunities to do a better job of meeting the new and demanding expectations of both our readers and our advertising clients.

As I suggested at the beginning, Turkey holds a special place in my heart. It is a beautiful country and Istanbul is its prized jewel. I know that many of you are discovering Turkey for the first time and I will be surprised if you do not leave here at the close of the conference with similar sentiments.

Our Turkish colleagues, notably the Turkish Newspaper Publishers Association, our host, and the Milliyet newspaper, our principal co-organiser, have done a wonderful job in bringing this event about and I know we can all look forward, beyond the business sessions, to the sensational social and tour programmes which they have put together to show us many of the beauties of their historically rich culture.

Thank you.