Censorship in Turkey
[5] In the third quarter of 2015, the independent Turkish press agency Bianet recorded a strengthening of attacks on opposition media under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) interim government.
[7] According to Freedom House, The government enacted new laws that expanded both the state's power to block websites and the surveillance capability of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT).
Several dozen journalists, including prominent columnists, lost their jobs as a result of such pressure during the year, and those who remained had to operate in a climate of increasing self-censorship and media polarization.
On 15 February 1857, the Ottoman Empire issued law governing printing houses ("Basmahane Nizamnamesi"); books first had to be shown to the governor, who forwarded them to commission for education ("Maarif Meclisi") and the police.
Disagreement in the ruling Republican People's Party ultimately favored more hardline measures and under İsmet İnönü's leadership, the Takrir-i Sükun Kanunu was proposed on 4 March 1925.
[35] This law granted the government unchecked powers, and had a number of consequences including the closure of all newspapers except for Cumhuriyet and Hakimiyet-i Milliye (both were official or semi-official state publications).
[33] The tribunals also closed down the offices of opposition party Terakkiperver Cumhuriyet Fırkası on 3 June 1925, under the pretext that their openly stated support for the protection of religious customs had contributed to the Sheikh Said rebellion.
"[45] Since his time as prime minister through to his presidency Erdoğan has sought to control the press, forbidding coverage, restricting internet use and stepping up repression on journalists and media outlets.
[50][51][52] Bianet's periodical reports on freedom of the press in Turkey published in October 2015 recorded a strengthening of attacks on the opposition media during the AKP interim government in the third quarter of 2015.
[6] The increased criminalisation of the media follows the freezing of the Kurdish peace process and the failure of AKP to obtain an outright majority at the June 2015 election and to achieve the presidentialisation of the political system.
In November 2015, Can Dündar, Cumhuriyet's editor in chief and its Ankara representative Erdem Gül were arrested on charges of belonging to a terror organisation, espionage and for having allegedly disclosed confidential information.
[56] The situation further deteriorated as a consequence of the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt of 15 July 2016 and the subsequent government reaction, leading to an increase of attacks targeting the media in Turkey.
Turkish soldiers attempting to overthrow the government took control of several newsrooms, including the Ankara-based headquarters of the state broadcaster TRT, where they forced anchor Tijen Karaş to read a statement at gunpoint while members of the editorial board were held hostage and threatened.
295 of the Criminal Code is increasingly being enforced as well, with a “press silence” (Yayın Yasağı) being imposed for topics of relevant public interest such as terrorist attacks and bloody blasts.
[70] According to the Council of Europe Commissioner and to the Venice Commission for Democracy through Law, the decrees issued under the state of emergency since July 2016, conferred an almost limitless discretionary power to the Turkish executive to apply sweeping misure against NGOs, the media and the public sector.
[75] The list of persons includes human rights activists, members of parliament, lawyers, journalists, TV show actors, students, writers, artists, cartoonists, ordinary citizens and even minors below the age of 17.
In 1999, the mayor of Istanbul and current president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment under Article 312 for reading a few lines from a poem that had been authorized by the Ministry of Education for use in schools, and consequently had to resign.
[92][91] As formulated by a coalition of twenty-two international media freedom organizations, the bill "provides a framework for extensive censorship of online information and the criminalisation of journalism, which will enable the government to further subdue and control public debate in the lead up to Turkey's general elections in 2023".
[103] According to a CPJ report, Turkish authorities are engaging in widespread criminal prosecution and jailing of journalists, and are applying other forms of severe pressure to promote self-censorship in the press.
[2] Courts' activities on media-related cases, particularly those concerning the corruption scandals surrounding Erdoğan and his close circle, have cast doubts on the independence and impartiality of the judiciary in Turkey.
Even RTÜK warned TRT for disproportionate coverage of the AKP; the Supreme Board of Elections fined the public broadcaster for not reporting at all on presidential candidates other than Erdoğan, between August 6 and 8.
In nearly all cases, these holding companies earn only a small fraction of their revenue from their media outlets, with the bulk of profits coming from other interests, such as construction, mining, finance, or energy.
[18][19][20][21] In addition to the censorship practiced by pro-government media such as Sabah, Yeni Şafak, and Star, the majority of other newspapers, such as Sözcü, Zaman, Milliyet, and Radikal have been reported as practicing self-censorship to protect their business interests and using the market share (65% of the total newspapers sold daily in Turkey as opposed to pro-government media[123]) to avoid retaliatory action by the AKP government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
[66] In 2017, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights noted that with regard to judicial harassment restricting freedom of expression the main issues consist in:[66] As to January 18, 2017, more than 150 media outlets were closed and their assets liquidated by governmental decrees.
[167] TV channels also practice self-censorship of subtitles in order to avoid heavy fines from the Radio and Television Supreme Council (Radyo ve Televizyon Üst Kurulu, RTÜK).
[2][234] On March 21, 2014, Twitter access for Turkish users was blocked for two weeks in the run-up to local elections to prevent a stream of leaked wiretapped recordings of senior officials that had appeared on the site, prompting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to declare he would "root out" the network.
[238] During the 2016–17 purges, the secure instant messaging app ByLock was accused by the Turkish government of being used primarily by members of the Gülen movement, which it classifies as a terrorist organization, during the failed coup.
[243] On 1 July 2020, in a statement made to his party members, Erdoğan announced that the government would introduce new measures and regulations to control or shut down social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and Netflix.
Nevertheless, due to the public profile of the major websites banned and the lack of juridical, technical, or ethical arguments to justify the censorship, the blocked sites are often available using proxies or by changing DNS servers.
In September 2017, Turkey's Supreme Court ruled that having ByLock, a mobile messaging application, installed on one's phone is enough evidence to convict a suspect as a member of the Gülen movement.
