New York, March 27, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release this week of at least eight imprisoned journalists in Turkey, but calls on Turkish authorities to scrap the charges against them and release all of the journalists jailed in the country. 

“While we welcome Turkey’s move to release journalists from prison, we reiterate that they should never have been jailed in the first place,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “As long as the charges are pending, and the threat of jail persists, the Turkish media will be deterred from independent and critical reporting.”

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Separately today, Turkish authorities blocked YouTube. The Turkish Telecommunications authority TIB said it had taken “administrative measures” against the video-sharing website, according to news reports. The move came after a leaked voice recording was posted on the website in which Turkish officials were allegedly heard discussing possible intervention into neighboring Syria, the reports said. The measure follows the government’s shutdown of Twitter on March 21.