Journalists ‘cannot breathe’ in Turkey

"We cannot breathe" - Photo: Yasin Akgül / Twitter

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Working for press freedom under the roof of P24 Platform for Independent Journalism, Expression Interrupted has published its two-monthly Freedom of Expression and the Press Agenda report.

The Freedom of Expression and the Press Agenda report, based on data obtained from trial and media monitoring work carried out by Expression Interrupted, covers the months of May and June 2021.

According to the report,109 journalists stood trial in May and June, four of whom were sentenced to a total of 9 years, 8 months. Police violence against journalists increased, with 5 physically attacked.

The report has found that freedom of expression and press is still deteriorating in Turkey, despite an ongoing decline in the number of journalists in prison and the government's declared commitment to reform.

According to the report, the deterioration is mainly thanks to the repressive government policies, combined with discriminatory practices of politicized public institutions and ongoing judicial violations.

Police violence against journalists working in the field, which markedly increased during the reporting period, is also a factor, exacerbating concerns on journalists' safety and public's access to information.

4 journalists sentenced to prison

During the two-month period covered by the Expression Interrupted report, Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reporter Mehmet Aslan, who had been in jail pending trial since January, and Cuma Ulus and Erkan Acar, who had been imprisoned since July 2016, were released, bringing the total number of journalists imprisoned in Turkey down to 65.

NOTE: According to data compiled by Expression Interrupted, the number of imprisoned journalists was 87 on the first day of 2021.

At this point, the report has commented that "despite the seeming decrease in the number of imprisoned journalists in Turkey, the judicial pressure faced by the media in the country has not improved."

That is, the trials against journalists continued in the period covered by the report, except during a 17-day COVID-19 lockdown in May.

Several new investigations and indictments targeting journalists were also issued during the period covered by the report.

Some 109 journalists appeared in courtrooms across Turkey in 51 trials throughout May and June. Among them, four were sentenced to a combined prison term of 9 years, 8 months, 2 days. Prosecutors launched new lawsuits against at least four journalists while six journalists faced new investigations in the same period. At least three journalists were detained.

Increase in police brutality and intervention

The report has also found that the increase in police brutality and interventions against reporters, especially those covering public demonstrations, as well as physical attacks on journalists were among the most significant issues faced by the media in Turkey in May and June. At least five journalists were targeted by civilian assaulters in the period.

The report has recalled that police intervention and brutality against reporters working in the field markedly increased with the implementation of a circular issued in late April by the General Directorate of Security, prohibiting all audio and video recording at public demonstrations.

Citing the circular, police used disproportionate force on demonstrators and journalists alike during May Day demonstrations and this year's İstanbul 19th Pride Parade planned to be held in Taksim on June 26.

Journalists trying to cover the demonstrations were physically assaulted by the police; some journalists were violently detained while the equipment of some was broken by the police during interventions.

The knee-on-neck detention of Agence France-Presse (AFP) photojournalist Bülent Kılıç as he was covering the banned Pride Parade in İstanbul became a symbol of increasing police brutality against journalists in Turkey.

"We can't breathe": Covering the İstanbul Pride, journalist Bülent Kılıç was filmed shouting "I can't breathe!" as police officers pushed him to the ground and pressed their knees against his neck, which then prompted several journalists' groups to take to the streets in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir in protest, under the slogan "We can't breathe."

In May, the government also introduced amendments to the Press Card Regulation, which are widely criticized for bringing arbitrary, vague and political criteria to become eligible to receive a press card.

Again, during the two-month period of May-June 2021, Turkey's Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu and several politicians from the government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) targeted media outlets and journalists in various public statements, exacerbating concerns regarding the safety of journalists and further encouraging censorship and self-censorship.

RTÜK and BİK's politically motivated decisions

Separately, the Expression Interrupted report has found that throughout the period of May and June 2021, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) and Public Advertising Agency (BİK), the media regulatory bodies which are mandated by law to act independently and impartially, imposed fines exclusively targeting critical media outlets.

While the RTÜK imposed administrative fines on Halk TV, KRT TV and FOX TV in this period, the BİK gave Evrensel daily a five-day public ad penalty. The latest penalty brought the total public ad ban imposed on Evrensel, which has been unable to run public ads and announcements since September 2019 due to the penalties imposed by BİK, to 103 days.

The report has also found that while these two bodies continued to disproportionately sanction critical media outlets, they also used the means at their disposal to reward pro-government media outlets.

Click here to read the full report

(HA/SD)