The Turkish press was fitted for an authoritarian straitjacket last week by Premier Adnan Menderes. The government quickly whipped a new press bill through its Democratic Party caucus, and a Grand National Assembly committee approved it. This week, if the Democrat-dominated Assembly passes it as expected, the new law will confront Turkish editors and publishers with a hard choice: drop all criticism of the Menderes regime or face fines up to 10,000 lire ($3,600 at the official rate) and jail sentences up to three years.
The penalties are laid down for newsmen who publish anything that the government feels lessens the Turkish...
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