Evrensel newspaper loses the 'official announcements' legal case

Evrensel daily's case against the Press Advertisement Institution's (BİK) cancellation of the newspaper's official announcement and advertising rights has been decided by the İstanbul 2nd Administrative Court.

Accepting BİK's claim that "acquiring more than one newspaper is a crime," the court stated that "the dispatch of a total of 359 copies to various political parties and companies" was carried out, and therefore, the newspaper "did not meet the minimum actual sales requirement," leading to the dismissal of the case.

Evrensel's Editor-in-Chief Hakkı Özdal and lawyer Devrim Avcı held a press conference at the Academy building of the Turkey Journalists Union regarding the case.

Avcı mentioned that the Press Advertisement Institution notified them on December 15, 2022, that Evrensel could no longer receive official announcements and advertisements.

Highlighting that this situation had occurred before, Avcı stated, "We have been dealing with the fines imposed by the Press Advertisement Institution since almost 2021."

Avcı criticized the court's decision as highly biased, saying, "This decision is about consolidating financial aid to newspapers in a single source, and the control of this should again be in the hands of the Press Advertisement Institution."

Avcı stated the following: "The issue is not about the cancellation of our right to publish official announcements and advertisements, so that we can complete the procedure again, and reapply.

The issue is how the Press Advertisement Institution interferes to this extent with Evrensel being mentioned in a collective labor agreement, a political party subscribing to the newspaper, or readers buying two or three newspapers from the vendors...

And the fact that the Press Advertisement Institution constantly monitors this for Evrensel while neglecting such obligations for other newspapers, especially pro-government newspapers. This is contrary to the principle of equality before the law..."

Avcı stated that they have the right to appeal the decision within 30 days, and if necessary, they will take the case to the Constitutional Court (AYM) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

After Avcı's statements, Hakkı Özdal also said that the decision is political. Özdal expressed that the decision would not have an impact on the publishing activities.

Özdal continued:

"This decision represents a significant financial loss for Evrensel. It means facing a new challenge for a journalism carried out under extraordinary difficult conditions, under the pressure of distribution monopolies and media conglomerates.

However, this decision will not hinder our publishing activities, our journalistic activities. We will continue to work with the same courage and enthusiasm as when we received official announcements. But what constitutes the rationale for this decision is directly related to the difficulties Evrensel faces.

Namely, the Press Advertisement Institution considers a person buying more than one newspaper as a sales operation. It knows that it is not the case, of course, but it uses it as an excuse. In fact, it indirectly points to the problem caused by distribution monopolies in Turkey. If the conditions were different, the attitude of the Press Advertisement Institution would have led us to discuss the problem caused by distribution monopolies.

Distribution is currently a monopoly in Turkey, in the true sense of the word. The distribution monopoly ignores the demands of newspapers, at least our newspaper. It does not consider the demands of Evrensel in the distribution of newspapers to vendors.

In this situation, some of our readers, volunteers ensure that our newspaper reaches places where the monopoly does not distribute it. This is in line with its natural course. Therefore, this decision is a political decision. The decision of the Press Advertisement Institution, which usurps Evrensel's right to official announcements, is entirely political.

Just as television channels have the pressure, control, and stick of RTÜK over them, the Press Advertisement Institution is in a position of a stick over the written and online press as a means of financial punishment.

We have also followed the hearings. We have seen with our own eyes the causal connection between the defendant and the decision-makers. This is not just a problem that Evrensel is experiencing. This is the general appearance of the last vestiges of what can be called law in Turkey.

We know that we are facing both the law of the regime and capital at the same time. This is a natural consequence of our publishing activities. We will not give up seeking our rights, of course. We will pursue our rights. The struggle of Evrensel will continue against both the judiciary of the regime and directly against the capitalist class."

(HA/PE)