Turkey has both generic company laws and media-specific regulations on transparency of the print, broadcasting and online media outlets.
[1] With regard to the disclosure of media ownership information, Turkey has both generic company laws and specific regulations concerning the printed, broadcast and online sectors.
[1] However, a research by Access Info Europe shows that the existing laws misses to prescribe the disclosure of crucial information therefore failing to actually disclose who owns and influences the media in Turkey.
[1] Also, as Access Info notes, the law applying to broadcasting and on demand services does not require to disclose if shares are held on behalf of another nor the existence of beneficial owners.
[3] In the last 15 years, the biggest Turkish media owners are corporations also operating in sectors such as construction, energy, mining and tourism.
A takeover took place in October 26, 2016 for the Koza-Ipek Media Group, which owned, among others, Bugun and Millet dailies and Cihan News Agency.
687 of February 9, 2017, Turkey's Saving Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) will be authorized to sell companies seized by the state through the appointment of trustees.
6112 on media service providers (broadcaster), their ownership information have to be reported to the “Radio and Television Supreme Council” (RTÜK) .
An example of public joint-stock company in the field of media is the state-run Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT- Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu).
The results of a survey clearly showed that the sole enforcement of commercial law provides insufficient information regarding who effectively owns and ultimately controls media organizations.
However, if shares are owned by one and actually used by another one as per an internal agreement, this information is not required to be disclosed by private or publicly-listed companies meaning ultimate ownership cannot therefore be identified.
[1] The distribution of public funds on advertising is existentially an important source of income for smaller papers but the relative data remain hidden.
[30] Following the coup attempt, on October 5, 2016, regulations regarding the Press Advertisement Institution (Basın İlan Kurumu- BİK)- the authority managing public announcements and advertising- were changed.
According to this contested regulation,[31] any news outlet that employs a journalist who is being tried on terrorism related charges will not be given state advertising, unless the employee is fired from the media organization in five days.