Communications Directorate revokes veteran journalist Tuğrul Eryılmaz's press card
Eryılmaz speaking at a bianet journalism workshop in 2018.
Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish
The Presidency Communications Directorate has revoked the permanent press card of journalist Tuğrul Eryılmaz and asked him to return the card.
The directorate send a letter notifying Eryılmaz of the decision, he said in his column on the T24 news portal.
The reason for the revocation was his "actions that may harm national security," Eryılmaz wrote.
"With the registered letter with return receipt that the Communications Directorate sent this week, it was notified that my permanent press card, which I have been carrying for years, had been revoked.
"Because I'm a 70+ youngster, 'my actions that may harm national security' were punished by Fahrettin Altun [head of the directorate] and his team.
"This is really where words fail. For three years, they had neither given my new press card, nor canceled it. They have canceled it now. Because I have no money for a lawyer, the Turkish Journalists' Association is dealing with the issue."
Eryılmaz had the "permanent press card," which is issued to those who work as a journalist for 20 years without interruption.
He obtained a press card for the first time in 1975, when he started journalism at the public broadcaster TRT.
He is a board member of the IPS Communication Foundation, the parent organization of bianet.
"A decision by the commission"
The letter sent to Eryılmaz says the directorate's Press Card Commission revoked his press card at the meeting on August 10, as per paragraph 2 of article 25 of the Press Card Regulation.
"You must return your revoked press card to our REgional Directorate in order to avoid any future grievances as per article 30 of the Press Card Regulation," reads the letter.
What does the regulation say?
The article that was the basis fo the decision regarding Yılmaz is about the "revocation of permanent press cards."
Paragraph 2 of the article refers to sentences (c), (ç), (d), (e) and (f) of the paragraph 1 of article 6, and says, "If a violation of these sentences arise, the permanent press card is revoked by the Commission upon the proposal of the Presidency."
The sentences regulate "conditions sought for persons to be given a press card." They are mostly about crimes against the state.
About Tuğrul Eryılmaz
Journalist. Founding board member of the IPS Communication Foundation.
He worked as the editor-in-chief of the magazines Haftalık, Nokta, Yeni Gündem ve Sokak and Milliyet Sanat, and the weekly Radikal 2. He also worked for the Tempo magazine and Yeni Asır and Cumhuriyet newspapers.
He lectured at the journalism departments of Ankara, Bahçeşehir, Bilgi, İzmir Ekonomi and Kadir Has Universities.
He completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences.
He started journalism at the TRT News Center. He resigned after the 1980 military coup and moved to İstanbul. He took part in cinema programs on various TV channels. He worked as a consultant for various movies and TV series.
He writes a column for T24. he is a fan of the Rolling Stones and Marianne Faitfull. He is from İzmir.
Renewal of press cardsThe 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 cardsPress 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. |
(HA/VK)