Turkey Escalates its Assault on Press Freedom 

For many years, the Turkey government, led by autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey escalates increasing assaults on press freedom and has exercised near-total control over the Turkish mass media

Still, it has recently begun to control what foreign media reports about developments in Turkey.  

Human Rights Watch discovered that the Gülen movement’s media and journalists were not the only targets of the crackdown.

Last week, Turkey’s broadcasting watchdog, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK), set a 72-hour deadline for the Turkish services of international news agencies Voice of America (VOA), Deutsche Welle (DW), and Euronews to apply for a license. 

The deadline was followed by the fear of being banned if they did not comply and secure the online broadcasting permits.

Turkey’s press freedom After the time has passed, the regulator can take the websites, including video news, to court and have them shut down. 

Turkey placed first among the 47 Council of Europe (CoE) member states in the number of judgments from the European Court of Human Rights involving infringement of freedom of expression in 2021, much like the previous year, demonstrates the repression of freedom of thought in Turkey.  

Edited By- Subbuthai Padma

Published By- Satheesh Kumar