Amid popular disapproval of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president since 2014, the government passed a bill that censors – even more forcefully – media and journalists who, according to the text, “promote lies”, also covering anyone who manifests himself on social networks. For Erdogan’s critics, this is an attempt to undermine the opposition, disguised as a fight against fake news. The sanction of the law was made by the president after 22:00 (local time) last Thursday (13).
The measure reinforces the repression of the press that has taken place in recent years in the country. Since the attempted coup in 2016, 189 media outlets have been shut down, around 319 journalists have been arrested, with 36 of them still behind bars, according to the Turkish Journalists Union (TGS). According to the Association for Legal and Media Studiesthat number would be even higher: at least 59.
A recent Reuters poll showed how much the content of major daily newspapers and TV news can be linked to an entire chain of government approval. The association Reporters Without Borders estimates, in turn, that 90% of the national media is in the hands of leaders linked to power.
The new law imposes, among other changes, that journalists who act “against the moral rules of the press” – without further details of what they would be – must lose the right to practice the profession.
The bill was introduced by the AKP, the president’s party, and its nationalist ally, the MHP, in May 2022 in Parliament. In the face of the protests, Ahmet Ozdemir, deputy of the presidential majority and member of the group that participated in the writing of the text, assured that it is not about censorship: “No freedom can exist without limits”, the parliamentarian told colleagues and the press.
Opposition
Meral Aksener, leader of the right-wing Iy (Good) party, condemned the new law, during the opening of votes in Parliament last week. “O Social Media Act it is a masterpiece of monstrosity”, he pointed out. “Those behind the law are the ones who fear reality and the truth the most,” declared Aksener.
Gülistan Kiliç Koçyigit, another opposition deputy, from the Halklarin Demokratik (People’s Democratic) denounced that “the president’s hands are dirty” and held up a sign reading “The free press will not shut up”.
The country’s Committee to Protect Journalists, which brings together unions and other bodies, also issued a statement, saying that “disinformation is a major problem and must be tackled, but not at the expense of restricting the rights of journalists and the rights of the public.” public to freedom of expression”.
“This law is unfortunately not a surprise,” noted on social media the Turkish journalist and economics professor Mehmet Altan, who was imprisoned for almost two years before being released in June 2018. “It is, however, the sign of a singular decadence that intends to establish a monopoly of the official speech”, analyzed.
Control of social networks
There is also an article in this new law that amends the penal code and allows sentencing to sentences ranging from one to three years in prison any person who has disseminated “misleading information” on the networks, undermining “the unity of the State”, “the established” or “disclosure of state secrets”.
Turkey’s authoritarian government’s attempt to control social media is old. In June 2013, Erdogan stated: “Social networks are a scourge for the people. There are so many lies on Twitter.”
In the same year, audio recordings involving ministers in corruption and bribery cases were spread through the networks and a representative, who at the time was prime minister, changed the functioning of the judiciary administration and expressed himself on social networks: “We will not leave Facebook and YouTube will swallow our nation! We could shut them down. It’s not conceivable to have such a sense of freedom.” Over the years, the current president has come to call social media “digital fascism”.
#Turkey #truth #jail #government #lie