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Democracy at Risk DEMOCRACY AT RISK IPI SPECIAL REPORT ON TURKEY, 2015 www.freemedia.at Cover: Journalists march for press freedom in Ankara on March 19, 2011. Dogan News Agency (DHA) PROTECTING PRESS FREEDOM FOR 65 YEARS IPI is a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists dedicated to furthering and safeguarding press freedom, promoting the free flow of news and information, and improving the practices of journalism. Formed in 1950 at Colum- bia University by 34 leading editors from 15 coun- tries on the belief that a free press would contribute to the creation of a better world, IPI today includes members in more than 120 countries. Spiegelgasse 2/29 1010 Vienna Austria freemedia.at +43 1 512 90 11 Twitter: @globalfreemedia Democracy at Risk IPI SPECIAL REPORT ON TURKEY MARCH 2015 Publisher International Press Institute (IPI) IPI Interim Executive Director Barbara Trionfi Author Steven M. Ellis, IPI Director of Advocacy and Communications Editor Steven M. Ellis Layout Javier Luque, Steven M. Ellis Acknowledgements IPI wishes to thank the members of its Turkish National Committee, the European Pressphoto Agency, the Dogan News Agency, the Freedom for Journalists Platform, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Journalists’ Union of Turkey, the European Federation of Journalists and the Turkish Journalists Association for assistance that led to the production of this report. ‘Democracy at Risk: IPI Special Report on Turkey, 2015’ is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License Democracy at Risk n IPI Special Report on Turkey, 2015 2 Executive Summary EROSION OF RIGHTS AS 2015 ELECTION NEARS urkey has seen increased pressure on media not only raids on media houses, but telephone calls to in recent years, part of a drift toward authori- media owners and editors directing how issues are to be tarianism that has led to a pervasive climate covered or calling for the firing of critical voices. Equally of self-censorship and one of the most trou- disturbing are officials’ public statements deeming jour- Tbling press freedom pictures in Europe. nalists “traitors” or pawns of foreign conspiracies alleg- edly scheming to destabilise the country. This is characterised – as IPI’s Turkish National Commit- tee Chair Kadri Gursel noted in a Feb. 19, 2015 column Pressure also includes bans on covering topics; denying in daily Milliyet – by political leaders’ efforts to control certain media outlets accreditation to cover public events; media via “[h]uge tax fines, calls for boycotts, advertise- an unofficial embargo by officials on speaking with criti- ment embargos, seizing media outlets and transferring cal outlets; and the use of laws granting government of- their ownership to supporters, publication bans, target- ficials special protection against “insults” to seek prison ing journalists in rallies, having journalists fired, im- terms or debilitating fines against anyone who publicly prisoning [journalists] and frustrating [them with] legal airs allegations of government corruption. cases on insult claims, targeting opposition journalists with social media trolls, [and] cultivating Internet sites Restrictive anti-press legislation – such as overly broad and columnists... tasked with scaring and intimidating laws that made Turkey a world leader in jailed journal- [critics]….” ists – remains, and accusations mount that regulatory authorities are used to harass media. Moreover, impunity Of chief concern is the ever-growing self-censorship re- persists for attacks on journalists, including those cover- lated to economic pressure, particularly as companies ing protests. Meanwhile, as traditional media is brought active in other economic sectors acquire ownership of a to heel and citizens look to online platforms to share and greater number of media outlets, sometimes at the alleged receive information, the government has turned its at- behest of government officials in exchange for favour. tention there too, again seeking bans on content and, in Those companies are, in turn, increasingly dependent on some cases, on individual users and entire websites. state contracts and government connections to survive, leaving journalists with the choice of suppressing critical As Turkey approaches June 2015 parliamentary elections, reports or losing their job, which, amid a polarised media it does so amid an overall erosion in respect for human and political climate, effectively can equal loss of career. rights, including free expression and media freedom. Un- fortunately, absent a fundamental change in attitude and But the willingness of government officials, particularly behaviour by those in power, the corresponding weaken- President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to directly pressure me- ing of democracy, a cycle which appears to both sustain dia is also extremely troubling. Recent years have seen and increase itself daily, has no immediate end in sight. 3 Democracy at Risk n IPI Special Report on Turkey, 2015 Journalists protect themselves from a police water cannon in Istanbul on May 1, 2014. TIMUR TARLIG/ISTANBUL (DHA) Democracy at Risk n IPI Special Report on Turkey, 2015 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 Executive Summary 6 Background Information 9 Developments 2007 to 2012 12 2012 IPI Press Freedom Mission 13 Developments 2013 to 2014 17 2014 IPI-CPJ Press Freedom Mission 18 Developments 2014 to 2015 20 Threats to Press Freedom 21 A. Economic Pressure 23 B. Toxic Political Climate 26 C. Manipulation of the Legal Framework 26 I. Anti-Terror and Criminal Laws 27 II. Criminal Insult and Defamation Laws 28 III. Regulation of Broadcasting 29 IV. Bans on Certain Content 31 D. Pressure on Speech Online 32 E. Impunity for Attacks 34 Conclusion 35 IPI Recommends Journalists protect themselves from a police water cannon in Istanbul on May 1, 2014. TIMUR TARLIG/ISTANBUL (DHA) 5 Democracy at Risk n IPI Special Report on Turkey, 2015 BACKGROUND INFORMATION A PRODUCT OF RECENT EVENTS, HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS he current state of media freedom in Tur- decades following Ataturk’s 1938 death. The army saw key is the culmination of many factors, some itself as the guarantor of the Constitution and on many stretching back nearly 100 years, and must occasions ousted governments that it thought challenged be viewed within that context. Turkey – by secular values. These included coups in 1960, 1971 and Tvirtue of its strategically important location straddling 1980, and the so-called “post-modern coup” of 1997, Europe and Asia, and its control over the entrance to the when military pressure led to the fall of the government Black Sea – has been a major influence in the region for of then-Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan of the pro- centuries. Islamist Welfare Party. The modern, secular Republic of Turkey was established This history is cited as one reason why the current gov- in 1923 by nationalist leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk after ernment led by the conservative, centre-right Justice and his victory in a bloody war of independence from West- Development Party (AKP) vigorously supported probes ern powers following the Ottoman Empire’s collapse after of alleged military coup plots and legal changes allowing World War I. the prosecution of plotters. It also has led to an ongoing belief in the existence of a so-called “Deep State” made Efforts to reconcile the state’s secular nature with the up of elements within the intelligence and security ser- religious beliefs of Turkey’s overwhelmingly Muslim vices, the military, the judiciary and other groups. population have been a frequent source of tension in the Republic’s history, and the country’s progress towards This alleged state-within-a-state is said to work covertly, democracy and a market economy was halting in the sometimes through violence or other anti-democratic COUP PLOT CASES In recent years, hundreds of military officers, academics, journalists and others were implicated in alleged plots to use terrorism to bring down the AKP-led government such as the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) and Ergenekon cases. Initially supportive of the prosecutions, Presi- dent Erdogan now claims that they were a sham by the Fethullah Gulen religious movement to advance its own coup attempt. Protestors outside a courthouse in Silivri on Aug. 5, 2013 ahead of verdicts in the “Ergenekon” case. EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU Democracy at Risk n IPI Special Report on Turkey, 2015 6 AK SARAY Upon winning the presidency, Erdogan announced that the Ak Saray, or ‘White Palace’ , constructed as the prime minister’s office, would instead become his new residence. The 1,150-room palace was built in a protected forest in Ankara in defiance of court orders. The government refuses to disclose the cost of construction, saying that could hurt the economy, but critics speculate it could be billions of lira. Turkey’s new presidential palace in October 2014. EPA/OZGE ELIF KIZIL/ANADOLU AGENCY Efforts to reconcile the state’s secular nature with the religious beliefs of Turkey’s overwhelmingly Muslim population have been a frequent source of tension in the Republic’s history. means, to manipulate the political system and exercise in recent years have made ongoing efforts to resolve the true control in order to uphold secular, nationalist and conflict. corporatist interests. Despite the many media outlets across Turkey, the media Media Atmosphere climate, like the political climate, is extremely polarised. Most major media outlets - which is not to say all – fall In theory, Turkey’s media scene is vibrant, with a multi- within one of five broad categories:
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