90% of Turkish media in government hands, says Reporters Without Borders report

Turkey is once again caught up in an attack on press freedom. According to a report by Reporters Without Borders, 90% of all Turkish media are reportedly under the control of Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government and some businessmen close to him. The French press organisation reveals that, during the past year 2020, as many as 1,358 news items were deleted due to rulings issued by the Turkish court against local media. These involved people from the president's closest circle, such as his son-in-law and former finance minister, Berat Albayrak, and his son, Bilal. They were not the only ones, as some businessmen and prominent members of his Justice and Development party were also reflected in these news items that were removed. 

The outrage on the streets of Turkey is noticeable and the leader of the Turkish Journalists' Union (TGS), Gökhan Dormus, has already spoken out: "The independent press has been facing great challenges and difficulties for years, as the Supreme Council of Radio and Television (RTÜK) and the Press Advertising Authority (BİK) have held them responsible and suspended them financially under the pretext of organising the work of the media". 

Dormus also wanted to refer to these economic sanctions that the independent media have been facing for a long time: "These two bodies (RTÜK and BİK) are working to punish the media with orders from the government, and we have many examples. They imposed fines last January on independent newspapers, including the daily Evrensel, as well as preventing them from publishing advertisements for a period of three days". Not only that, but he also pointed to the huge impact of these financial losses on the media, which can leave more than one in a crisis from which it is difficult for them to emerge. 

Those who suffer most from this censorship are the journalists who come face to face with the Erdogan regime. Reporters who take to the streets to denounce the government's control of the media put their own integrity at risk. Currently, the number of journalists and media workers who are detained by the Turkish government has risen to 67. The TGS is standing firm in the face of the continuous attacks and threats, and affirms that it will continue to defend itself in order to achieve the freedom that the country currently lacks: "Our union believes in democracy as the basis for press freedom, and that is why the authorities must stop threatening journalists and controlling the media through various companies", Gökhan Dormus defended in a statement to Al-Arabiya. 

The recently published report by Reporters Without Borders only brings back into the limelight a problem that is not new in Turkey. Since the failed coup d'état in 2016, the Erdogan government's control has only increased and continued to stifle the independent media through sanctions. As a result, many non-governmental media outlets have had to leave Turkey in the last five years because of the impossibility of keeping them there. Even journalists have been forced to flee because of the continuous arrests and detentions to which some of their colleagues have been subjected. Nevertheless, the Turkish courts have handed down certain sentences in favour of journalists and reporters who have been released. One of the best known cases is that of journalist Jan Dundar, who, after being repeatedly convicted of crimes of rebellion, managed to obtain amnesty.