Halk TV fined over slang word about MHP Chair Bahçeli

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) has imposed an administrative fine on Halk TV over the words of an on-air guest about Devlet Bahçeli, the Chair of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which is in the "People's Alliance" with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), the pro-opposition broadcaster has been fined over the following remarks of a guest during the "Şimdiki Zaman Siyaset" (Present Time Politics) program:

"Ankara Medical Chamber says, 'We see four thousand [COVID-19] cases a day, only in Ankara.' Then, Bahçeli comes along and says, 'We need to close the [Turkish] Medical Association, we need to close the Constitutional Court. Are you establishing an empire, lan? How is that possible?"

Examining these remarks, RTÜK has considered the expression of "lan", a slang expression in Turkish that roughly means "man, dude," humiliating and degrading for an institution or the persons who represent it.

Accordingly, the Council has fined the broadcaster on the grounds that it violated the related article of the Law no. 6112 stipulating that "...a broadcast shall not be against the principle of respect for human dignity and privacy and it shall not have remarks humiliating, degrading or slandering persons or institutions beyond the boundaries of criticism." (EKN/SD)