Earlier this week, Syrian government forces fired their weapons across the Lebanese and Turkish borders, killing a television journalist and at least two people in a refugee camp in Turkey. In response, the Turkish government summoned the Syrian ambassador to protest what was the first attack from Syria since Turkey began hosting refugees.

Yesterday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan raised the possibility of invoking Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty and calling on NATO to protect Turkey’s border:

“We have many options. A country has rights born out of international law against border violations,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by Hurriyet daily and other newspapers.

“Also, NATO has responsibilities to do with Turkey’s borders, according to Article 5,” added Erdogan, whose country is a NATO member.

According to Article 5, NATO members “agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence.” NATO first invoked Article 5 after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States.

CNN reports that State Department officials have said that the Obama administration is discussing creating a buffer zone on the border between Turkey and Syria. “It would be correct to say this idea is getting another look in the last week or so,” one official said about the buffer zone.

Turkish authorities today released four journalists imprisoned for alleged roles in anti-government plotting with a shadowy group of alleged conspirators known as Ergenekon.

Two of the four journalists, Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener, were held for 375 days, the Turkish daily Hurriyet reported. The release represents a reversal in the case:

The court stated the reason for release as “the probability of the crime’s qualification being subject to change” and “the time suspects spent under arrest.” [...]

The court had previously ruled against the release of prominent Şener and Şık, who have both remained behind bars since their arrest in March 2011 in connection with their alleged links to the Ergenekon clique.

The struggle between the government and the Ergenekon group, covered in depth last week by the New Yorker, pits a secular underground movement against the powerful government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his A.K. Party, known for Islamic piety and rejecting the strict secularism of Kemalism that bans public displays of religion. However, some claim that the imprisoned journalists had little to do with the alleged plots to topple the government. (A government spokesman denied improprieties to the New Yorker and said the judiciary was acting independently.)

Six journalists involved in the same case as the four released today remain in jail.

Turkey’s treatment of the press has drawn the ire of rights groups and Turkish allies like the U.S. — as well as some Turks. On December 20, 2011, Turkish authorities rounded up journalists in a crackdown on those allegedly tied to Kurdish separatist movements. The arrests came amid a larger pattern of going after journalists, detailed by writer Alia Malek that month in Foreign Policy magazine.

A large rally in Istanbul in January lamented that the verdict in the trial of an Armenian journalist’s death did not delve into organizations and powerful individuals suspected of involvement.

Just this month, the advocacy group the Committee to Protect Journalists complained that Erdoğan had mischaracterized their statistics to imply that Turkey had ample press freedom, noting: “Turkey is among the democratic countries with the highest number of journalists in prison.” Another group, Reporters Without Borders, complained that Şık and Şener had spent more than a year behind bars “for no reason.”

“According to the Journalists Union of Turkey, ninety-four reporters are currently imprisoned for doing their jobs,” wrote the New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins, in a blog post accompanying his long magazine article. “Remember, too, that when you start arresting journalists, the freedom for those not in jail shrinks, too.”

Our guest blogger is Krittika Lalwaney, who recently visited Syrian refugee camps in Turkey

Syrian refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan are a forgotten piece of the ongoing Syrian revolution. The refugees are not only fleeing the bloodshed, they are active revolutionaries aiding regime opponents and bridging the communication gap between pro-democracy activists inside Syria and the international community. The roughly 10,000 Syrians living in tents inside Turkey have spent the past 10 months urging friends and family inside to continue to demonstrate and plan escape routes for defectors. I visited two refugee camps in Antakya, Turkey in January where I spoke to Syrian refugees and members of the Free Syria Army to understand their roles in strengthening the Syrian opposition.

Inside the refugee camps, only 500 meters from the Syrian border, families were glued to television news reports from Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera. Laptops with wireless internet connections were on Skype where refugees connect with friends and families inside Syria. Refugees will often inquire about access to staples because in many cities such as Homs, the regime has cut off water, electricity and food supplies. Syrians in these camps organize and infiltrate the border to deliver food packages, medical supplies and water. The porous borders serve as a vital communication channel for the refugee community and play an imperative role in keeping the opposition alive.

One Syrian refugee I interviewed said he keeps track of the number of dissidents killed, detained or missing through underground networks and then relays that information to international media outlets. Refugees are central to coordinating protests in Syria; and Army defectors in these camps provide military intelligence to soldiers in the Free Syria Army.

The refugees are also faced with everyday challenges living in Turkey. The Hatay province in Antakya, Turkey at one time used to be a part of Syria and consists of a large Alawite community. Turkish Alawites have enjoyed a strong relationship with the Assad regime and many have benefited from sending their children to Syrian universities. Thus, the recent influx of Syrian dissidents has caused problems with the host community. Refugees have to be wary as many Turkish Alawites are suspected of spying for the regime. One refugee told me that a group of men severely beat him after he spoke openly against Assad and in favor of the revolution.

There are also concerns about the living conditions in the camps. Turkey has not developed a long-term strategy for hosting them. Consequently, their children have no access to public schools and there is no potential for legitimate employment. And harsh weather has wreaked havoc. Syrians living inside Turkey are in desperate need of winter clothes, blankets, new tents, and shoes to cope with winter weather. As the violence in Syria persists, more refugees have been crossing over to Turkey in need of basic essentials. Furthermore, access to health care is limited in the refugee camps where there is only one health tent for 3,000 people. The health unit is not equipped to treat severe wounds or infections.

The refugees continue to aid the opposition but it’s unclear, given worsening living conditions and security fears, how long their efforts will remain effective.

Tens of thousands took to the streets of Istanbul to protest a court decision not to widen the investigation into the murder of a Turkish-Armenian journalist five years ago. The court assigned guilt to several nationalists deemed responsible for the killing of Hrant Dink, but decided the prosecution did not present enough evidence that there was an illegal organization behind the murder. The investigation shied away from exploring the suspected role of some nationalist police and military officials.

Dink, the editor of a Turkish-Armenian newspaper, wrote critically about Turkey’s treatment of its Armenian ethnic minority, and particularly about the killing of more than 1 million Armenians by the Ottoman army in 1915 which he and others considered genocide, a term that is hotly contested. The advocacy group Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) research demonstrated widespread nationalist threats leading up to Dink’s murder on the front steps of his paper.

The protests were the largest in Turkey in years. Some held aloft signs in Turkish and Armenian that said, “We are all Hrant. We are all Armenian.” Here’s a photo of an Istanbul neighborhood from the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet:

The Paris-based journalism advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said the decision was “absolutely scandalous.” Nina Ognianova, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator, said:

Justice for our colleague Hrant Dink will not be achieved until the commissioners of his slaying five years ago are tried and punished to the full extent of the law. We stand in solidarity with Dink’s family, colleagues, and friends in calling for a thorough and transparent investigation into the suspected involvement of military and security service officials in this brutal crime.

Turkish president Abdullah Gül and other members of the ruling AK Party expressed disappointment with the ruling: “The conclusion of this case in transparency and fairness in line with our legislation is an important test for us,” Gül reportedly said. Some, however, doubted the sincerity of the nationalist government.