Journalist Nadire Mater reclaims press card after four years

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Nadire Mater, the chair of the IPS Communication Foundation and the Project Advisor of bianet, has received her press card from the İstanbul Regional Directorate of the Presidency Directorate of Communications.

After the directorate refused to renew her card four years ago, Mater had filed a lawsuit in 2018. On April 30, 2022, the Ankara 18th Administrative Court ruled that the card should be returned to Mater.

As press cards have become a tool to put pressure on journalists in recent years, cards of more than 2,500 journalists were either not renewed or canceled.

Press cards, which are indispensable for journalists in access to news, producing news and entering news environments, are now sent to journalists in boxes with the logo of the Communications Directorate.

The box includes a pen, a notebook, and a leather casing for the card, all with the directorate's logo.

CLICK - Journalist Nadire Mater wins 'press card' lawsuit against Presidency Communications Directorate

Criticizing the "gifts" sent with the card amid the economic crisis, Mater said, "It is not possible to understand what this is in a period of crisis."

Revoking the card is a violation

Noting that the card is valid until May 13, 2015, Mater said, "One structure of the state revoked the card, another structure, the judiciary, said, 'The card is her right.' The structure that revoked the card had to issue a card.

"However, they had tried to prove that I'm a terrorist for years. Heartfelt thanks to my dear lawyer and friend Meriç Eyüboğlu.

"It is unacceptable to have to deal with the courts to get he card back. No structure of the state can approve or revoke my journalism. In short, journalism can't be squeezed into a card issued by the state."

The struggle will continue

"This process, which I find embarrassing, shows us the righteousness and indispensability of our struggle that 'We want to carry the press cards of journalism organizations.'

"Still, let's not ignore the legal ways and make these revocations null and void one by one.

"I invite those without a card, whose number reach thousands, to file lawsuits, which is also a part of our struggle to get our cards from our organizations. I also have the Constitutional Court and the ECtHR ahead."

Not the first gain

Previously, several journalists had won lawsuits they had filed after being denied press cards: Yeni Asya Editor-in-Chief Kazım Güleçyüz, economist and writer Mustafa Sönmez, Evrensel Ankara Representative Birkan Bulut and Aydın Engin, who passed in March.

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.

(HA/VK)