Following the decision taken by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993, May 3 was declared World Press Freedom Day all over the world. However, the pressure, censorship, detention and arrest of journalists have not ended for 31 years. Turkey is one of the countries where journalists experience the most human rights violations. While the pressure on the press increased, especially during the AKP government, press freedom in Turkey went backwards. According to the 2023 World Press Freedom Index prepared by the International Reporters Without Borders (RSF); Turkey ranks 165th among 180 countries. Following the frenzy of detentions and arrests against the Free Press, Turkey fell from the "problematic" category to the "grave" category. According to the report, 90 percent of the national media in Turkey is under government control.

 

894 JOURNALISTS ARRESTED

 

At least 894 journalists have been arrested since the AKP came to power in 2002. 17 journalists were arrested in 2002 and 15 journalists were arrested in 2003. There is no data for 2004 and 2005.

 

22 in 2006, 9 in 2007, 23 in 2008, 37 in 2009, 9 in 2010, 36 in 2011, 5 in 2012, 1 in 2013, 2 in 2014, 8 in 2015 journalists were arrested. After the State of Emergency declared after the military uprising on July 15, 2016, pressure on journalists increased. 145 in 2016, 206 in 2017, 56 in 2018, 130 in 2019, 87 in 2020, 3 in 2021, 32 in 2022, 43 in 2023, and 8 in the first 4 months of 2024 journalists were arrested. According to the data of the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG), there are currently 45 journalists in prisons, while hundreds of journalists continue to be tried for the news they made.

 

MURDERED JOURNALISTS

 

During the AKP period, many journalists were either subjected to violence or murdered because they were targeted. Agos Newspaper Editor-in-Chief Hrant Dink, Azadiya Welat newspaper distributor Metin Alataş, Bandırma Güney Marmara Yaşam Newspaper owner İsmail Cihan Haysever, Kocaeli Ses Newspaper owner Göngür Arslan, Azadiya Welat editor Rohat Aktaş, Azadiya Welat distributor Kadri Bağdu, Devrimci Hareket Magazine writer Önder Babat and Yürüyüş Magazine distributor Engin Ceber were murdered on different dates.

 

MEDIA HAS BECOME A MONOPOLY

 

The Presidential Directorate of Communications (CIB), established in 2018, canceled the press cards of hundreds of journalists and ignored the fundamental rights of media workers by keeping hundreds of press card applications pending. AKP used many methods to monopolize the media. In 2004, Star TV and Star newspaper belonging to Uzan Group were seized. These places were sold to Aydın Doğan and then to Doğuş Group, known for its closeness to the government. In 2007, Sabah newspaper and ATV belonging to Ciner Group were seized by the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF). ATV and Sabah newspaper were sold to Çalık Group, whose general manager was Berat Albayrak at that time.

 

A tax fine of 4.8 billion liras was imposed on the Doğan Group, includes the Doğan News Agency (DHA), which is in conflict with the government. Following this penalty, Doğan Group began to shrink in the media field, and in 2011, Milliyet and Vatan newspapers within DHA were sold to the Demirören-Karacan partnership. With the withdrawal of Karacan Group from the partnership, 2 newspapers came into the hands of Demirören Group. In 2018, all newspapers and televisions owned by Doğan Media were sold to Demirören Group.

 

NEWSPAPERS AND TELEVISIONS WERE CLOSED

 

AKP continued to suppress the media, which it could not monopolize. With the Satutory Decrees (KHK) issued during the State of Emergency declared after July 15, a total of 16 televisions, 3 news agencies, 23 radio stations, including press organizations such as Dicle News Agency (DİHA), JINHA, Özgür Gündem, TV 10, İMC and Hayat TV, 45 newspapers, 15 magazines, 29 publishing houses and distribution channels were closed. All assets of the closed media institutions were confiscated.

 

With the statutory decrees issued in 2017, Dihaber, Gazete Şûjin and Rojeva Media were closed. Trustees were appointed to the Özgürlükçü Demokrasi Newspaper and Gün Printing House. A total of 170 media organizations were closed with the statutory decrees issued periodically after the state of emergency. All of the rights, licenses and transmitters of the closed Samanyolu TV, Kanaltürk TV and Radyo Mehtap, Radyo Cihan, Burç FM, Kanaltürk Radio were later sold to the close-to-government Turkuvaz Media Group.

 

FINE FOR FAILURE TO CLOSE

 

The government tried to intimidate other opposition newspapers and television channels with media blackouts, fines and advertisement bans. The Radio and Television Supreme Council emerged as a regulatory-supervisory institution during the AKP period and became a weapon against opposition channels. In response to a parliamentary question by the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, to whom RTÜK is affiliated, 570 penalty decisions were made against the channels in 2023. Again, according to the 2022 RTÜK report card, Halk TV, TELE1, KRT, Fox and Flash TV were fined a total of 17 million 335 thousand TL. Opposition newspapers such as Evrensel and Birgün were tried to be silenced by the Press Advertisement Institution (BİK). BİK has tried to intimidate and close these newspapers by not placing advertisements in them for many years.

 

CENSORSHIP OF VIRTUAL MEDIA

 

After written and visual publications, it was the turn of virtual media. Virtual media platforms have had their share of censorship and access barriers in the new period. According to the Freedom of Expression Association's EngelliWeb report, a total of 6 thousand 528 news items were blocked from access in 2022, and 5 thousand 388 news items were removed from publication and censored. Between 2006 and 2023, access to 712 thousand 558 websites with 616 thousand 239 contents was blocked. The sites of agencies and newspapers from the Free Press have been blocked many times.

 

Some articles in the "Law on Regulation of Publications Made on the Internet and Combating Crimes Committed Through These Publications", which was adopted by the Parliament on July 29, 2020, came into force on October 1, 2020. Accordingly, it has become mandatory for virtual network providers with more than 1 million users to have representatives in Turkey. Within the scope of the law, gradual sanctions ranging from fines to advertising bans, which may result in narrowing the band, were also imposed on those who did not open a representative office in Turkey.

 

CENSORY HAS BECOME LEGAL

 

The AKP government's final blow to press freedom was the "Disinformation Law", which was published in the Official Gazette on October 18, 2022 and came into force. After the law, which journalists described as the "Censorship Law", came into force, the right to receive information and freedom of expression were radically changed. With the law, a new crime called "publicly disseminating misstatement" was added to the Turkish Penal Code. Administrative measures include fines for media organizations and bandwidth throttling sanctions for virtual media networks; Prison sentences have begun to be given to people who like news or virtual media posts that are claimed to be "misstatement" on the grounds of "publicly disseminating misstatement". Investigations and lawsuits filed against journalists who reported on the destruction following the Mereş-centered earthquakes on February 6 are still continuing. 

 

MA / Tolga Güney