What does the answer mean when the "question" has no value?

The authoritarian understanding, which has been tried to become permanent in Turkey for a long time, has manifested itself again through our profession, journalism.

The AKP government, which controls the majority of the media, took the practice of accreditation, which it has increasingly extended, to another dimension during AKP President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement at Esenboğa airport ahead of his visit to Qatar.

President Erdogan's visit to Qatar was also preceded by press conferences of senior state officials before boarding the plane before almost all foreign trips. Erdogan appeared before members of the press to answer "questions" put to him. There was an "embarrassment" on the part of our profession in the question section of the meeting, where only members of the press working in pro-government media and operating under the direction of the government were present.

The practice contrary to press freedom, according to which the Presidency's Communication Directorate organises the questions to be put to Erdogan at these and similar meetings, was deciphered by the daily Yeniçağ before his visit to Qatar. The Yeniçağ newspaper, in its report entitled "The questions journalists will ask Erdogan before his visit to Qatar are leaked", published just before the press conference, indicated who would ask Erdogan which question. As reported in the story, the same questions were put to Erdogan.

Erdogan answered the questions of Anadolu Agency (AA), Demirören News Agency (DHA), A Haber and CNNTürk as if he was not aware of them. A whole theatre was made in front of millions of people. A "safe" press conference for the government, an "accident-free" meeting for the pro-government press, but revealing disgrace for the journalists who should be reporting on behalf of the public.

This tragicomic situation in the name of journalism, of those who try to place journalism on the side of their power, even see it as an extension of their power, and of those who pave the way for it under the guise of a "media establishment", is nothing but their own desperation. Journalists who speak for the people and the truth will never be in those halls or on those planes where a theatre is on display.

Neither the "question" they ask nor the "answer" they give to those who ask questions, which is one of the reasons for the existence of our profession, are of any value.

G-9 JOURNALISM ORGANIZATIONS’ PLATFORM

Association of European Journalists (AEJ) Turkey Representation

Press and Communication Workers' Union (HABER-SEN)

Progressivey Journalists Association (CGD)

Turkish Press and Press Employees' Union (DİSK BASIN-İŞ)

Parliamentary Correspondents' Association (PMD)

Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS)