The Press: The Ankara Hilton

The food is wretched, the beds are lumpy and the place has no central heating. But to Turkey's top newsmen, a stay at the "Ankara Hilton" has become a matter of personal and professional pride. Reason: the wryly nicknamed "Ankara Hilton" is the special bullpen in Ankara's Central Prison for newsmen who have dared to criticize the government of Turkey's Premier Adnan Menderes.

One of the West's staunchest friends. Strongman Menderes will have little to do with the Western institution of the free press. For the first four years of his administration, relations between government and press were good. Shortly after the 1954 elections the opposition press became bitingly critical, and the administration began to strike back. Sweeping Menderes-backed laws can check a newsman into the "Ankara Hilton" for any story that lessens the public's regard for the Premier or his administration.

Last week the Ankara Court of Appeals upheld jail sentences for five more newsmen, including Managing Editor Nihat Subasi of the daily Ankara Ulus, official organ of the opposition Republican People's Party, and Managing Editor Tarik Halulu of the weekly newsmagazine Akis. Since the first press-gag law was passed in 1954, a score of newsmen have been imprisoned for crimes ranging from criticism of Menderes' financial policies to the suggestion that the Premier married for money. What is more, Menderes has suspended publication of Akis, has even dared to close down Ulus, the newspaper founded by the revered Kemal Ataturk.

Despite these drastic efforts (plus the fact that he allocates all newsprint and advertising), Menderes has not broken the press to his harness. He can still pick up a Turkish paper or magazine almost any day and spot something that sets him to boiling