President Erdogan’s government has increased its heavy-handed treatment of journalists and continues to close down media avenues
Even though crackdowns on journalists and media establishments are not something new in Turkey, the coup attempt on 15 July, 2016, triggered an unprecedented amount of pressure over all of Turkey’s vehicles of government opposition. According to Amnesty International Report 2016/17, through the declaration of a state of emergency soon after the failed coup, 118 journalists were remanded in pre-trial detention and 184 media outlets and at least 375 NGOs and humanitarian organisations were arbitrarily and permanently shut down by emergency decrees. Censorship over the internet also increased according to the same report.
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, came to power in 2002 soon after a severe economic crisis. In its first years, the AKP government under Erdogan’s prime ministry displayed liberal features, particularly by adopting the European Union’s harmonisation laws and reducing the military’s influence and intervention in politics. Yet Erdogan and his party have gradually moved towards authoritarianism and have steadily increased repression, especially after the Gezi Uprising in 2013, and more notably after the coup attempt of July 2016. As a result, Turkey, along with China, holds the top spot for the number of journalists residing in its prisons. Soon after the attempted coup, more than 100 journalists were imprisoned, and eight of these journalists were arrested because of their involvement in Kurdish media outlets, such as Özgür Gündem, Jinha, Dicle News Agency (DİHA) and Azadiya Welat.
What’s more, the group, Academics for Peace – who signed a petition in January 2016 urging the Turkish state to resume peace negotiations with the PKK and stop human rights violations perpetrated by the state in Turkey’s Kurdish majority cities and towns – have been subjected to dismissals, threats of violence, administrative and criminal investigations and accusations of spreading terrorist propaganda. They also face bans from all public services, as well as passport cancellations.
Pro-Kurdish groups are just one of those being targeted. Dissident journalists from all sides of the political spectrum are routinely stigmatised as terrorists and charged with anti-state activities, treason and spying. For instance, Can Dündar who used to be the editor-in-chief of opposition newspaper, Cumhuriyet, and the paper’s Ankara representative Erdem Gül were both convicted of “revealing state secrets” and sentenced to five years imprisonment for publishing news alleging that Turkey’s authorities had sent weapons hidden under medical and humanitarian supplies in trucks to armed opposition groups in Syria.
The de-legitimisation of journalism and freedom of expression under the Anti-Terror Law #3713 enables the government to silence and suppress all voices of opposition. Lawsuits and criminal investigations foster an atmosphere of fear among media outlets and ensure that journalists are unable to report on issues such as corruption scandals, state violence and so on. Of course, the crackdown goes beyond the media, affecting all sectors of society.
Defamation lawsuits against journalists, politicians, artists and even ordinary citizens because of their critical social media posts are frequent occurrences under Erdogan. In 2015 alone, 50 journalists and 281 formal political opposition members were investigated for insulting Erdogan on social media platforms. The threat of violence is also a very real one for journalists, as seen in the assassination attempt of Can Dündar in May 2016, soon before he was sentenced to five years in prison mainly due to his afore-mentioned journalistic activities.
As for the mainstream media in Turkey, it is firmly under the control of the AKP. In March 2018, the total sale of Dogan Media, formerly Turkey’s biggest media group, to the pro-Erdogan conglomerate, Demirören Holdings, was the nail in the coffin for diversity and freedom in Turkey’s mainstream media. As shown by the Media Ownership Monitor, 80% of the Turkish media landscape was already financially or politically dependent on Erdogan’s government, and following the sale of Dogan Media Group, nine of the ten most-watched TV channels and most-read national daily newspapers are owned by pro-government businessmen and companies. This lack of media freedom, plurality and diversity in mainstream media plays an important role in Erdogan’s constant re-election, as people cannot easily access content that is not pro-AKP.
Although there are some issues rising over the governance of digital media such as repressive regulations, inequality in access, personal data harvesting, surveillance and new threats to journalism’s viability through fake news, new communication technologies and infrastructures are still vital to maintaining news production and circulation for journalists in such confined media environments under authoritarian regimes. There is yet another regulation in the pipeline in Turkey which is expected to present some challenges for online platforms. According to the proposed new regulation, the power of the Supreme Council of Radio and Television Broadcasting in Turkey (RTÜK) – in charge of issuing broadcasting licences to radio and television outlets and checking the content of their broadcasts – will be extended to video and music platforms, as well as television broadcasts on the internet. Digital services will have to obtain a licence from the RTÜK and pay for it in order to maintain their broadcasts, and the RTÜK will be able to block access to the digital platforms classified as inappropriate, whether morally, religiously or politically.
The AKP, like many authoritarian governments today, have systematically targeted Turkey’s free media in a bid to destroy any unified opposition to their power. That’s why the duty is on all of us across the globe to stand in solidarity against such repressive policies. When it comes to journalism, creating globally-shared fundamental journalistic rights, circulating under-reported news, and providing platforms through which marginalised voices can be heard, beyond borders and institutional boundaries, is crucial to overcome oppression.