Journalist Deniz Yücel, prior to his own detainment, participated in a vigil for jailed journalists in front of Silivri Prison on January 11. Photo: Stockholm Center for Freedom
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkey runs the risk of losing credibility because of its continued assaults on press freedoms, according to a yearly report by a journalism advocacy organization, which didn’t solely lay the blame on the Turkish government, but also on media producers who have acquiesced.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released its 2017 survey which highlights the threats to freedom of the press across the world in a survey entitled ‘Attack on the Press: The New Face of Censorship.’
The report critically examined the shifting landscape of Turkish media over the past twenty years.
“Press barons bartered their support for privatization tenders, for lucrative changes in land zoning, for government-affiliated advertising revenues, and, most profitably of all during a decade of chronic inflation, for banking licenses,” the report read.
According to the independent journalism platform Punto24, whose founder wrote the CPJ report on Turkey, 27 journalists were in Turkish jails in 1999.
“Previous Turkish governments often defied international media standards, yet the current regime does so with impunity and within its own definition of democratic norms,” it stated.
Prior to the failed July 2016 military coup, 33 journalists in total were imprisoned before the failed military coup. But the coup allowed authorities to suspend habeas corpus for 30 days, and arrests have continued with about 146 journalists now behind bars, according to P24.
One such journalist is Deniz Yucel, who holds German and Turkish passports and has worked for the German media firm ‘Die Welt.’
Yucel had reported on emails that a computer hacker collective had acquired from the private account of Turkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, the son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He is being held in Silivri Prison.
CPJ wrote, in general, that “the criteria for imposing these measures is not transparent.”
“Despite the pervasiveness of social media, Turkey's strong governing party now controls the public discourse like never before, by systematically exerting control over privately owned media and crowding out a more pluralistic press,” the report highlighted.
Many Kurdish news outlets have been affected by the post-coup crackdown, often claimed by Turkish authorities to have links to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) or being critical of the Turkish military.
“Kurdish publications are generally antithetical to Gülen,” but have been targeted nonetheless; including, the detainment of 28 journalists at Azadiya Welat, and the closure of Ozgur Gundem.
CPJ also criticized of the shutdown of Zarok TV, a children's cartoon channel broadcast in Kurdish.
In light of the decreased tolerance of dissent in Turkey, journalists have begun self-censoring.
“Many Doğan employees privately confessed to [the author] that self-censorship is now the rule, not the exception,” CPJ write about one of the few large media corporations to have survived.
The restriction of journalists’ ability to gather information from varied sources — an essential tool to providing balanced coverage — was also highlighted by CPJ.
“Having a credit card at Bank Asya — a Gülen-associated finance house — or subscribing to the Gülenist flagship newspaper Zaman have been grounds for dismissal and even police detention,” the report claimed.
The consolidated media landscape in Turkey gives little option to media producers.
“That is why the increasing corruption of the mainstream media is so crucial — it has become a willing accomplice to this new authoritarianis,” CPJ wrote.
The government has adopted the practice of “denying access to press conferences for publications of which it did not approve.”
CPJ believes the suppression of dissenting views and the increased usage by which “polemical headlines accompany photo-shopped realities” will or already has led to media shifting into propagandists.
“Much of the pro-government Turkish press now falls into the category of propaganda,” CPJ wrote.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released its 2017 survey which highlights the threats to freedom of the press across the world in a survey entitled ‘Attack on the Press: The New Face of Censorship.’
The report critically examined the shifting landscape of Turkish media over the past twenty years.
“Press barons bartered their support for privatization tenders, for lucrative changes in land zoning, for government-affiliated advertising revenues, and, most profitably of all during a decade of chronic inflation, for banking licenses,” the report read.
According to the independent journalism platform Punto24, whose founder wrote the CPJ report on Turkey, 27 journalists were in Turkish jails in 1999.
“Previous Turkish governments often defied international media standards, yet the current regime does so with impunity and within its own definition of democratic norms,” it stated.
Prior to the failed July 2016 military coup, 33 journalists in total were imprisoned before the failed military coup. But the coup allowed authorities to suspend habeas corpus for 30 days, and arrests have continued with about 146 journalists now behind bars, according to P24.
One such journalist is Deniz Yucel, who holds German and Turkish passports and has worked for the German media firm ‘Die Welt.’
Yucel had reported on emails that a computer hacker collective had acquired from the private account of Turkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, the son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He is being held in Silivri Prison.
CPJ wrote, in general, that “the criteria for imposing these measures is not transparent.”
“Despite the pervasiveness of social media, Turkey's strong governing party now controls the public discourse like never before, by systematically exerting control over privately owned media and crowding out a more pluralistic press,” the report highlighted.
Many Kurdish news outlets have been affected by the post-coup crackdown, often claimed by Turkish authorities to have links to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) or being critical of the Turkish military.
“Kurdish publications are generally antithetical to Gülen,” but have been targeted nonetheless; including, the detainment of 28 journalists at Azadiya Welat, and the closure of Ozgur Gundem.
CPJ also criticized of the shutdown of Zarok TV, a children's cartoon channel broadcast in Kurdish.
In light of the decreased tolerance of dissent in Turkey, journalists have begun self-censoring.
“Many Doğan employees privately confessed to [the author] that self-censorship is now the rule, not the exception,” CPJ write about one of the few large media corporations to have survived.
The restriction of journalists’ ability to gather information from varied sources — an essential tool to providing balanced coverage — was also highlighted by CPJ.
“Having a credit card at Bank Asya — a Gülen-associated finance house — or subscribing to the Gülenist flagship newspaper Zaman have been grounds for dismissal and even police detention,” the report claimed.
The consolidated media landscape in Turkey gives little option to media producers.
“That is why the increasing corruption of the mainstream media is so crucial — it has become a willing accomplice to this new authoritarianis,” CPJ wrote.
The government has adopted the practice of “denying access to press conferences for publications of which it did not approve.”
CPJ believes the suppression of dissenting views and the increased usage by which “polemical headlines accompany photo-shopped realities” will or already has led to media shifting into propagandists.
“Much of the pro-government Turkish press now falls into the category of propaganda,” CPJ wrote.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that press freedoms shouldn't extend to insults and threats, after former US President Barack Obama said Turkey's approach to the press was "very troubling."
"I was saddened to hear that statement made behind my back,” Erdogan told reporters during the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. “During my talk with Obama, those [press freedom] issues did not come up."
"You cannot consider insults and threats [to be covered by] press freedom."
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