Journalist Nadire Mater reclaims press card after four years

Renewal of press cards

The chaos of issuing, not issuing, arbitrarily holding and revoking press cards began after the Communications Directorate was authorized to issue press cards with the 2018 amendment to the Press Card Regulation.

The Directorate announced that press cards of 9,115 journalists have been renewed since the amendment. However, press cards of 1,371 journalists haven't been renewed, cards of 1,238 journalists have been revoked in the same period, and the evaluation process about the cards of more than 200 journalists is underway.

Meanwhile, the Council of State suspended the execution of many of the regulation articles in a lawsuit filed by the Contemporary Journalists Association (ÇGD). In response to the verdict, the Communications Directorate made new arrangements in the regulation which would nullify the verdict and the legal framework referred to in the verdict.

Communications Directorate and press cards

Press cards used to be granted by the Prime Ministry's Directorate General of Press and Information, so by the state, in Turkey. After Turkey adopted the Presidential Government System, this authority has been transferred to the Presidency's Communications Directorate.

The Press Card Regulation was amended on December 14, 2018, which marked the 14th regulation drafted since 1947.

The color of the press cards was changed from yellow to turquoise. Yellow press cards were canceled. The holders of yellow press cards were asked to make an application again. However, hundreds of journalists who had press cards were not given the new press cards. The Communications Directorate canceled or suspended the press cards on various grounds.

In the meantime, the Progressive Journalists Association applied to the Council of State in February 2019 and demanded that six articles of the Press Card Regulation in breach of the Constitution and laws be annulled and their execution be halted. The related articles were against freedom of press and expression and overstepped the authorities granted by laws.

The Council of State's Plenary Session of Administrative Law Chambers annulled the authority of the Presidency's Communications Directorate to cancel press cards and permanent press cards on such grounds as "acting in such a way to undermine the press professional honor", "acting against national security or public order" and "doing them habitually."

The related Council of State ruling noted that the regulation in question would keep journalists under pressure and concerns. It halted the execution of the Press Card Regulation by underlining that the basic principles that also contained the conditions for holding a press card should be arranged in such a way that this right would not be arbitrarily interfered with.

Following this decision, a new regulation was published in the Official Gazette on May 20, 2021. Signed by President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, this new regulation was almost the exact same as the one issued in 2018.

Professional journalism and labor organizations, namely the Progressive Journalists Association, DİSK Press Union, Journalists' Union of Turkey, Journalists Association and Photojournalists Association of Turkey, took legal action against the Press Card Regulation again.