Press freedom increasingly under threat in Turkey

A new blow to freedom of expression in Turkey has taken place this week. The Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council, a government body, has imposed the maximum penalty on Halk TV for broadcasting an interview with the interim chairman of the Istanbul Office of the People's Republican Party (CHP), Canan Kaftancıoğlu, who said during her speech that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will not win the next elections and will therefore have to leave office. "In fact, there is a truth, which is that, during the next elections, whether early or not, our people have become truly aware of what is happening: let me tell you that I see a change soon in power, and not only in power, but also in the whole system," were his exact words, picked up by the Al-Ain media.

As a result, Halk TV has been sanctioned with a ban on broadcasting the next five programmes in the format "Sözüm Var" - which in English means "called" - presented by Şirin Payzın, as well as an administrative fine, details of which are not known at the moment. 

The Supreme Council claims that its message may involve "a coup d'état", which "on the screen of a national broadcaster is incompatible with responsibility for public broadcasting", as reported by the local Star media. The body "did not consider it right that the programme's moderator should not interfere with the words and, moreover, approve the statements ... revealing the fact that the undemocratic implications and connotations can be a source of fear and anxiety for the public and at the same time increase feelings of hatred and enmity in society, can lead to the public disrupting public order and provoking a social and political crisis," the Council sources said.

The statements from Kaftancıoğlu, moreover, "ignore the national will, point to the government elected by the people and say they are governing by undemocratic methods," the government body said. 

But this movement by the public body has not been isolated in recent weeks. The News of Turk channel was also fined for broadcasting an interview with the leader of the Turkish opposition party Al-Khair, Miral Aksinar, who later showed his discontent on Twitter: "Ban opinions, Erdogan? Don't you think the ballot box will have the last word," he wrote on the social network.

Similarly, the broadcasts of up to eight other TV channels - Doruk TV, Yalova TV, Kanal Çay, Nisa TV, 1 An TV, Vadim TV, Ber TV and Super TV - have been stopped, though for other reasons: he is accused of "marketing fake products, ignoring public health, defrauding the public and making unfair profits. 

It should also be noted that the deterioration of press freedom in Turkey has accelerated with the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis in the country. "The Turkish president seems to be using COVID-19 as a pretext to get rid of the few critical media that remain in his country. Opposition politicians and journalists fear a new wave of censorship," warns the German daily Deustche Welle.

In fact, the president has even pointed to the media as "more dangerous than the virus" because "instead of contributing to the fight against the pandemic, the journalists were throwing out false information", "waging a war against their own country" and "working day and night to break the nation's morale". He also threatened that they would end up "drowning in their own puddles of hate and intrigue along with the terrorist organizations.

In this line, the report published by Amnesty International on the occasion of the celebration of World Press Freedom Day - 3 May - reports that "the COVID-19 crisis has added a new layer to the attacks on media freedom with journalists being detained throughout the country under the pretext of combating misinformation". The investigation notes that nearly 18 news websites have been closed in the past month, as well as dozens of reports published online that have been banned.  

It should be recalled at this point that more than 175 media outlets have been closed in Turkey in the last two years, leaving more than 12,000 news professionals unemployed, which has caused the unemployment rate in the sector to rise to an all-time high, according to data from the Eurasian nation's statistics institute. 

In the latest Reporters Without Borders (RSF) world press freedom ranking, Turkey was 154th out of 180.