Turkey's media watchdog censoring free thought, former member says


Feb 11 2022

Turkey's media watchdog, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), is now punishing freedom of thought in Turkey, according to former RTÜK member Faruk Bildirici.

Ebubekir Şahin, the head of RTÜK, wants no news to be reported and no criticism to be levelled at the government, Bildirici said in an interview with Bianet on Friday.

"Şahin is now acting like the government's stick hanging over independent and critical channels," he said.

On Thursday, RTÜK launched an investigation against opposition broadcaster Halk TV over journalist Ayşenur Arslan's remarks on Turkish Cypriot businessman Halil Falyalı, who was killed in an armed attack in northern Cyprus on Tuesday.

Şahin, and RTÜK under him, only fines the critical and independent channels but protects pro-government ones, Bildirici said.

On Wednesday, RTÜK also issued a warning to international publications that include the Turkish language websites of Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, and Euronews that they need to receive a national license or risk their content being blocked. RTÜK's power to regulate foreign news outlets stemmed from a 2019 law that provides it with the power to regulate internet platforms in Turkey.

"They created the list to start with the publications that the government dislikes the most. This is likely to spread to the BBC and Sputnik," Bildirici said.

From now on, more severe conditions await the critical media in Turkey, Bildirici said.

"Until now, newspapers have faced the police, the judiciary, and access bans. Now they will also be faced with RTÜK censorship," he said.


Head of Human Rights Center in Ankara resigns as police torture scandal deepens

Ahval
Feb 09 2022 10:19 Gmt+3

The head of a Turkish human rights organisation resigned on Wednesday following a report detailing torture by Ankara police officers.

Riza Türmen, the leader of the Human Rights Centre in Ankara and a former judge on the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), confirmed to Ahval News that he is stepping down from his position. With Türmen’s departure, the number of resignations from the Human Rights Centre has grown to six individuals as a result of the deepening scandal.

The debate was sparked after the Ankara Bar Association, the mother entity for the Human Rights Centre, censored a report prepared by the lawyers of the Human Rights Centre of the that investigated the allegations that the suspects detained over alleged membership of the Gülen Movement were tortured at Ankara Security Directorate.

Ankara designates the Gülen movement, led by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, a terrorist organisation over the group's alleged involvement in the failed July 15, 2016, putsch to topple the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Gülen, a former ally of Erdoğan, denies all accusations of involvement.

After it was revealed that the Ankara Bar Association had worked to prevent the publication of a report, five of its lawyers who worked for the Human Rights Centre announced that they would be resigning. Turmen’s resignation is the highest ranking departure since the scandal began.

The lawyers that chose to resign stated that the decision not to publish the torture report was the “last straw” that pushed them out the door. Several had already been involved in cases that pushed them to consider leaving including the crackdown on the Saturday Mothers, a peace movement seeking the whereabouts of their loved one who disappeared following the May 1980 coup d’teat.

Other were incensed by the decision to ignore the rulings of the ECHR that Turkey falls under the jurisdiction of. The ECHR has ordered that Turkey release political prisoners such a civil society activist Osman Kavala and Selahattain Demirtas, the leader of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP).

Kemal Koranel, the head of the Ankara Bar Association, has denied all allegations that his organisation covered up the report.

"We have done our part about human rights and freedoms. We have filed a criminal complaint to the prosecutor's office regarding the allegations of torture upon the related report. Our Human Rights Centre has prepared 13 similar reports so far. Only one of them has been published. We do not have a procedure [stipulating] publication in our directives," Koranel declared in a statement.


Turkish lawyers resign from Ankara Bar Association’s Human Rights Centre claiming censorship of reports

Feb 09 2022 

Six members of the Ankara Bar Association’s Human Rights Centre resigned after the body failed to publish a report on alleged police torture in the capital, Bianet reported on Wednesday.

Lawyers, including two vice chairs of the centre who stepped down, accused the bar’s administration of "staying silent to several violations of human rights" and of "censorship", Bianet said.

Similar incidents have been going on for some time and the failure to release the report was the "tipping point" for those who resigned, lawyers said.

The bar’s administration also censored its findings in cases including the health condition of imprisoned Kurdish politician Aysel Tuğluk, European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judgments against Turkey and on the alleged mistreatment of detained military students, according to the lawyers who have resigned.

Chairman Kemal Koranel dismissed the allegations of censorship, the news website said.

"We have done our part about human rights and freedoms. We have filed a criminal complaint to the prosecutor's office regarding the allegations of torture upon the related report,” Koranel said.

The Human Rights Centre has prepared 13 similar reports, and one of them was published, he said. “We do not have a procedure (to stipulate) publication in our directives," he added.