RTÜK fined Halk TV because 'media can overthrow the government'

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) said that it fined a TV channel because there is an environment where "media can cause the collapse of the government," according to court minutes revealed by an independent lawmaker.

Halk TV, a pro-opposition broadcaster, filed a lawsuit against the RTÜK after it fined it on April 7, 2020, because of the remarks of a guest on a political discussion program.

In the statement of defense it sent to the court on July 20, the RTÜK says, "In a situation where the media can cause the government to collapse and overrule economic decisions, to put it more clearly, in a situation where media has such an importance that it can put anyone it wants to power and overthrow anyone it doesn't want, it will never be possible to mention the freedom of every program guest to say anything they want through the media."

"RTÜK fines Halk TV because of what was said during a program. Halk TV brings the case to the court and appeals the fine. In the photo, you see the answer of RTÜK. It's a situation beyond desperate," MP Cihangir İslam said on Twitter.

MP Ali Mahır Başarır from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) said the government was using "all the means of the state" to silence the media outlets critical of it.

"To understand this, it would be enough to look at the 'broadcast suspension' and 'blackout' penalties that RTÜK gave to ... television channels that tell the people the truth," he said.

CLICK - Five-day blackout of Halk TV enters into effect 

CLICK - HRW: Turkey's media authority imposing punitive sanctions on critical media outlets 

CLICK - RTÜK issued 39 fines in 18 months, 36 of them were for critical outlets 

"The heavy sanctions imposed by an agency that is responsible for the supervision of the press and broadcasting shows that an important public agency has become an arm of the AKP [Justice and Development Party] government.

"The Radio and Television Supreme Council should stop serving as a tool to censor the media and intimidate media members and work for impartiality and plurality as stated in the description of its duty." HA/VK)