Turkey plans a further clampdown on media
AKP says it won’t allow ‘fifth column’activity from independent media organisations
TURKEY’S announcement on Wednesday that it will soon “regulate” foreign-funded media outlets and require them to submit a detailed report on their activities every six months has set off a fierce debate, with critics saying it’s a further attempt by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to eviscerate what remains of the free press.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made his intentions clear in a news conference at the end of a twoday tour to the TRNC, saying: “We will be taking action against the calumny terror. From October onward, work will be undertaken to this end in parliament.”
Turkey is routinely listed as one of the worst offenders of press freedom, with dozens of journalists languishing in jail on “terror charges”.
The announcement came amid a smear campaign against independent media outlets that receive financial support from the USbased Chrest Foundation, a private charity.
They include the liberalleaning Medyascope and Bianet, both online news outlets, as well as Serbestiyet, a platform for more conservative writers. Highly regarded, they are among a handful of media outlets that provide a critical counterpoint to Mr Erdoğan’s multimillion-dollar media machine.
The Presidency’s head of media and communications, Fahrettin Altun, said, “We won’t allow fifth column activities under new guises. There is a need for a new regulation for media outlets operating [with the support of] foreign states and institutions.”
Mr Altun justified the planned rules, saying the US has implemented similar measures. In fact, the National Defense for Fiscal Year 2019 requires US-based foreign media, not US-media funded by foreign capital, to submit reports every six months regarding the outlets’ relations to foreign principals.
Al-Monitor columnist Kadri Gürsel, who serves on the executive board of Reporters Sans Frontieres, a Paris-based global media advocacy group, said: “It’s not a secret that most of Turkey’s independent media, particularly in the digital realm, receive foreign funds to survive in a media ecosystem which is characterised by the devastating consequences of the authoritarian pressure of Erdoğan’s rule.”
Mr Gürsel added: “Multiple tools have been used to that end. Taking full or indirect government control of the mainstream media through forced acquisitions has been one of these tools. Another is to financially suffocate small but influential independent media outlets by — explicitly or implicitly — masterminding advertisement embargoes on them — a pressure method which is still widely in use.
“To cope with such financial pressures and in the face of the reluctance of the secular business community to financially support independent media in Turkey, outlets like Medyascope have reached out to international donors to survive.”
The timing of the decision has raised further speculation that Mr Erdoğan may be clearing the path for early elections ahead of their scheduled date in 2023.
Several studies suggest that a growing number of Turks are turning to independent digital outlets for their news.
In a March report, the International Press Institute said that, with 33.5 million users, Turkey’s independent media’s digital reach was catching up with the pro-government media’s 47.8 million users.
The report noted: “Independent media outlets receive 16.5 per cent more interactions on social media and are closer to breaking through the echo chamber. They dominate the progovernment outlets in almost all dimensions from their follower growth to the number of viral content, and on all platforms.”
It added: “For instance, they have five times more
engagement on Facebook, and they reach a more diverse audience of news consumers on Twitter.”
Merve Tahiroğlu, director of the Turkey Program at the Project on Middle East Democracy, a think tank in Washington, said the move was part of a broader campaign of pressure extending to foreign-funded NGOs that are also portrayed as stalking horses for nefarious global forces out to undermine Turkey.
“I think this measure is
similar to the recent, socalled ‘NGOs law,’ which (in addition to allowing the government to replace board members with appointees) also appears to be aimed at pressuring non-profits that receive foreign funding. NGOs with Western funding are especially feeling this pressure with increased and arbitrary inspections. And that’s no coincidence,” Miss Tahiroğlu said.
“At a time when the US and Europe are trying to expand their efforts to promote democratisation and human rights in Turkey by supporting local NGOs and independent media organisations, Ankara is clearly trying to keep tabs on these activities and tighten its control over these institutions,” Miss Tahiroğlu added.
One of the government’s most prominent targets is Osman Kavala, a businessman turned civil society activist who used his family fortune to promote culture and peace between
Turks and Armenians and between Turks and Kurds. Mr Kavala has been in prison since October 2017 on terrorism charges. His foundation, Anadolu Kültür, is among the Chrest Foundation’s beneficiaries.
Mr Kavala is due to appear in court on August 6. In September 2020, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the 63year-old’s continued detention is in violation of the European Convention of Human Rights.
The court reiterated its opinion on December 10, Human Rights Day, saying Mr Kavala’s extended detention had an “ulterior purpose, namely to reduce him to silence as an NGO activist and human rights defender, to dissuade other persons from engaging in such activities and to paralyse civil society in the country.”
Turkey ratified the convention in 1954. The European Court’s decisions are binding for signatories.
There is a need for a new regulation for media outlets operating [with the support of] foreign states and institutions