20 June 2009

                            COUNTRY REPORT: TURKEY

     Turkey has a dynamic and vocal  press  which is still very  influential culturally and politically.  Despite the spread of other media including the internet,  it is still  the country’s leading agenda setter.  A substantial amount of  new capital with religious origin has flown into the media in recent years, changing the general tone of the sector.  Nonetheless, almost all shades of ideological opinion find expression  in  Turkey’s  pluralistic media environment today. 

      In the fiercely competitive media environment,  there are infrequent media wars.  Unfortunately,  the competition for readers , viewers and advertising revenue  often leads to a neglect of  basic ethical principles articulated in the Professional Principles of the Turkish Press Council.  Admittedly,  there are deep divisions among the members of the press  and the resulting tense atmosphere has not been conducive to the maintenance of  solidarity in press freedom related issues.

     The two events that dominated  the press over the past three years was the controversy over Article 301 of the Penal Code and the murder of  journalist Hrant Dink .  Article 301 which made “insulting Turkishness” along with a number of state institutions came under international criticism and was finally amended in 2007.  Unfortunately, Dink,  who had been convicted under that article,  was shot dead  in January 2007.  Dink’s trial continues with several hit men and intermediate figures under arrest even though the big figures behind it have yet to emerge.  The media is following this trial with keen interest. 

     Despite a decline in the number of prosecutions against journalists since  Article 301 was amended in 2007,  the general sense of legal insecurity among journalists  continues. This is because there are a number of other articles in the new Penal Code that might result in the imprisonment of journalists, in addition to some  articles of the Anti-Terror Law which have always been controversial. The Press Council made a strong effort to warn  the government and legislators about dangers posed by such articles including the  notorious  301 before its enactment,  but was largely ignored.   More and more people have recently  come to the realise that these articles have turned  the area of press f reedom into a mine field,  making  a selective and arbitrary implementation of justice possible.

  A prominent example,  making headlines currently,  is the case of Nedim Şener. Şener, a well-known investigative reporter working for daily Milliyet,  published a book entitled  “The Dink Murder and Intelligence Lies” concerning the killing of  Dink, the editor of the Armenian language newspaper Agos  and  called attention to grave negligence by intelligence officers of the Trabzon police where Dink’s murder was plotted.  His story was very well documented which was one of the reasons why the prosecutors, at the instigation of the intelligence officers in question, have  asked for a total 28 years in prison  for him.  Some of the indictments are based on the Anti-Terror Act while others stem from “mined” articles in the new Penal Code, corroborating the Council’s  concerned predictions three years ago.  The case is in court and deserves the highest level of international attention.

        Another cause for concern for the press has been the hostile  attitude  of the  ruling AKP government towards independent media, especially over the past two years.  Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan  made attacking the independent press a staple of his election campaign last year and repeatedly asked his followers to boycott Doğan Media Group newspapers (Hürriyet, Milliyet, Posta, Radikal, etc.)   In the ensuing hostile environment,   a number of reporters were booed or physically attacked in campaign rallies.  The government went a step further by imposing a 500 million dolar fine  on the company for an alleged late tax payment.  The case is to be decided by the tax courts,  but other “independent” publishers whose media outlets dared to criticize the government,  have also complained of  fiscal and bureaucratic harassment.   An atmosphere of fear and intimidation has been spreading among media owners and journalists.

      Turkish press has also felt the restrictive effects of the  flood  of  defamation and libel suits emanating from government figures and especially the Prime Minister.

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