Increasing political pressure on media as Turkish elections approach

In advance of the 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections, the Turkish state increased censorship by targeting critics of the government. In the January 2023 world report of Human Rights Watch, it was stated that dissidents were targeted with false criminal proceedings and prison sentences ahead of the elections. The impact of these repressive implementations on the media is reflected in the increased restrictions on news coverage, especially after the earthquake. Condemning the censorship of two news articles published after the earthquake on the grounds of infringing on the personal rights of companies, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also considers these decisions, which came two months before the elections, as new measures to suppress the criticisms on the government’s handling of quake aftermath.
One of the access ban decisions was about the article written by BirGün newspaper concerning the sale of surplus clothing allocated for earthquake victims. The other was the report of the independent news agency ANKA about a restructuring project allocated to companies close to the government in quake areas. In addition, according to the data of Journo, an independent digital platform, which also compiles the EngelliWeb (Blocked Websites) announcements of the Freedom of Expression Association, access to the news of BirGün and Cumhuriyet, which are popular opposition newspapers, has been blocked the most in the last 3 months. The blocked news articles covered many significant issues such as corruption, drug trade, violence against women, allegations about religious orders, and the sinister relations of the ruling circles. One of the most recent bans of the authorities, which has become the subject of irony on social media, was the ban of access to the EngelliWeb project, which has been announcing access bans imposed upon websites, news reports, and social media posts.
Another ban that exemplifies the pressure on the media was applied to the Deutsche Welle (DW). After the refusal of the Ministry of Industry and Technology to extend the operating license of DW, it was announced that DW’s Turkey office will shut down at the end of March. The license of DW Turkish, which has been blocked for more than a year, was not renewed because it ‘chose the field of activity incorrectly’. According to the news published by DW on its website, the Director of DW Turkish Erkan Arıkan reacted to the decision as follows: “The decision to reject DW’s application for an extension and to close the Turkish office as a result is a blow to the freedom of the press. The Contemporary Journalists Association (ÇGD) evaluated the decision as a further increase in the obstacles to the freedom of the press and expression. The association also stated that many journalists working for international media organizations have been targeted for a while.