Turkey

In Hungary, Poland and Turkey, increasing control of ruling parties over state-controlled companies, advertising agencies, media regulators, competition watchdogs and even the courts, has allowed for a steady intensification and diversification of campaigns against critical press.

Throughout the reporting period of May-June 2021, the government continued its verbal commitment to reform and introduced a set of legislative changes. But in practice, thanks to repressive government policies combined with discriminatory practices of politicized public institutions and judicial violations, the situation of freedom of expression and the media deteriorated further.

In the five years since the coup attempt, dozens of writers, artists, and other creatives have been targeted, prosecuted, and jailed by Turkish authorities.

As the Expression Interrupted platform, which has been operating as part of the Platform for Independent Journalism (P24) since 2017, we present our first periodic report with the aim of sharing the results of our efforts to track violations of freedom of expression and the press in Turkey with the general public more effectively.

The mission was organised in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the sharp rise in targeting of media by regulators, increased physical attacks on journalists and a new restrictive law on social media with the potential to impose further limitations on the remaining spaces for independent reporting and public commentary.

JOINT INTERNATIONAL PRESS FREEDOM MISSION TO TURKEY (SEPTEMBER 11–13, 2019)

Given the unprecedented number of journalists in prison in Turkey at the moment and the increas- ing number of freedom of expression trials, trial monitoring has become an important activity for Turkish civil society over the past few years.

Wikipedia was permanently blocked over articles on Turkey’s involvement in the Syrian civil war

The government, using enhanced powers under a state of emergency, carried out a massive purge of media outlets accused of links to an attempted military coup in July.

After already cracking down on freedom of information in recent years, President Erdoğan has taken advantage of the abortive coup d’état and the state of emergency in effect since 20 July to silence many more of his media critics, not only Gülen movement media and journalists but also, to a lesser extent, Kurdish, secularist and left-wing media.

Authorities prosecuted a number of prominent journalists on terrorism-related charges, including the editor in chief and the Ankara bureau chief of the Cumhuriyet daily, who were arrested in connection with the paper’s coverage of alleged weapons shipments to Syria by Turkish intelligence services.

The report is a frank assessment of the recent regime of online censorship and mass surveillance against a backdrop of longstanding, serious abuses of the judicial process and attacks on freedom of expression by Turkish authorities.

“In the first half of 2015, 92 percent of all court orders to remove content received by Twitter worldwide originated in Turkey”

Ranked 142nd in annual global media freedom report

Dozens of journalists forced to resign following sympathetic reporting on Gezi protests

The Turkish authorities severely restricted the right to freedom of expression of journalists and writers during and after the Gezi Park protests in 2013, English PEN and PEN International said in their joint report.

“Turkey continues to be the world’s leading jailer of journalists”

Ranked 154th in annual press freedom index

Anti-government protests follow violent dispersal of peaceful sit-in

Ranked 120th in annual global media freedom report

In 2012, journalists and rights organisations worldwide called on the Turkish government to release journalists and abolish the Anti-Terror Law.

“Nearly all media organisations are owned by giant holding companies with ties to political parties, contributing to self-censorship”

“2011 saw a dramatic escalation in the judicial harassment of journalists”

Two journalists and an academic charged under terrorism legislation for allegedly aiding and abetting Ergenekon organisation