‘At least 100 newspapers may be closed in Turkey this year alone'

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Federation of Journalists of Turkey (TGF) Chair Yılmaz Karaca has called on the Grand National Assembly of Turkey to unveil a financial support package that will cover media outlets and journalists.

Raising concerns that nearly 900 newspapers have been closed in Turkey in the last 5 years and at least 100 others may be closed in 2021 alone, Karaca has stressed that a definitive solution can be found for the problem only if the Press Advertisement Institution (BİK), Presidency's Directorate of Communications and professional journalism organizations come together.

The TGF Chair has recalled that the recent increases in prices have put newspapers' owners in a difficult position, causing employees to not get their wages and the newspapers to be closed one by one.

"We will face these problems more in the coming period," he has warned, noting that "the number of newspapers has dropped from 1,800 to 900 in the past 5 years." He has said, "District newspapers are miserable. The way things stand, at least 100 newspapers will be closed this year."

TGF requests increase in public ad prices

Referring specifically to the BİK, TGF Chair Karaca has protested that the Institution "does nothing other than fining some opposition newspapers."

Recalling that the BİK introduced short-time working and lifted the obligation of sales during the COVID-19 pandemic, Karaca has said, "It does not do anything else to keep the Anatolian press alive."

"We think that the 15-percent commission paid to the BİK per ad must be lifted for some time until these problems are solved," he has added.

Noting that the General Assembly of the BİK "has 36 members and an expenditure of around 2 million liras in a year," Karaca has said, "We argue that there is no need for the General Assembly and an arrangement must be made. The condition of the mainstream media is no different from ours. The absence of paper factories has put us in this position today. If we had a paper factory today, we would not be foreign-dependent."

Reiterating his demand for a financial support package to be unveiled by the Parliament, Karaca has called on the BİK to support this package. The TGF Chair has also recalled that it submitted a report regarding the resolution of the related problems to President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan when he was in Adana last month.

"The BİK, Directorate of Communications and press organizations should have a meeting and solve the problem together. The BİK General Assembly meeting will be held in a month. The ad prices must be increased. The 20-percent increase last year helped us to an extent. This year, it must be at least 30 percent," TGF Chair Yılmaz Karaca has underlined.

Concluding his statement, TGF Chair Karaca has briefly said, "Some professional organizations close to the government launch projects with the state, saying, 'We will solve the problems of the press'. No professional organization or journalist knows about this. They distribute money to their supporters in this way. We are not oppositional, we are an institution struggling for the survival of our profession." (HA/SD)