1,863 Media Personnel Fired In 12 Years, According To Opposition Report

Republican People's Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Veli Ağbaba has said Turkey is the world leader in media personnel laid off, with a total of 1,863 journalist fired over the last 12 years.

Ağbaba and CHP deputies Nurettin Güven, Muharrem Işık and Özgür Özel unveiled a new report titled “Journalists Fired under Government Pressure” at their party's building on Monday. Ağbaba said the number of journalists determined to have been dismissed over the last 12 years was 1,863, but that this was only the tip of the iceberg.

The CHP deputy chairman went on to say that President Erdoğan had become the “biggest media boss” in the country, going on to say, “The only difference between him and his friend [former Italian Prime Minister Silvio] Berlusconi is that Berlusconi was a media boss before he became president and Erdoğan became prime minister and then media boss.”

Ağbaba went on to say that 90 percent of those who had been fired were done so after President Erdoğan's self-styled “period of mastership,” signaling his third term in office, which started in 2011.

The most recent example of this was when the Radikal daily reportedly fired its award-winning correspondent Elif İnce, on Monday. İnce was the reporter of a famous news story that spawned many more headlines regarding the military barracks project in Gezi Park, the subject of weeks-long nationwide protests in June 2013.

CHP deputy Rahmi Aşkın Türeli submitted a series of written questions yesterday to the Presidency of Parliament regarding the ever-increasing media layoffs.

A report prepared by the Turkish Journalists' Union (TGA) titled “Journalists' Problems” found that 981 journalists were laid off and another 56 were forced to resign in the first half of 2014, said Türeli, who went on to say that with last week's layoffs this number neared 1,000, according to the private Cihan news agency.

Türeli, a CHP deputy for İzmir, said: “Those with political power are trying to homogenize the media instead of allowing for pluralism. The media is being purged through programs taken off air ahead of schedule and administrative fines via the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK). The concluding section of the aforementioned report states that censorship, self-censorship, oppressive inclinations and the continuing pressure from both central and local administrations towards journalists and media institutions have continued in the month of September. Within this context, the death threats, character assassination communicated over social media against journalists and intellectuals show first and foremost that the worrisome developments happening in terms of limitations on freedom of expression and the press, as well as threats to democratic rule, have been included in the report.”

The deputy went on to say: “Nearly 1,000 media workers have been laid off and 56 have been forced to resign in the first half of 2014. Can we talk of there being a free press under these circumstances? Can we expect impartial news from media personnel who have no occupational guarantees? Laying off media workers, who have given years of their life to this profession, with just one word should weigh on our conscience .We need to say ‘stop' to the inexplicable state that the media is in today. The numbers of journalists laid off or forced to resign has reached startling proportions. Every day somebody loses their job. Can this be explained solely by the actions of the owners? No, the ruling power has a stake in the activities of today.”

Türeli directed the following questions to Parliament

-- What are the reasons for 981 journalists being laid off and 56 having been forced to resign in the first half of 2014?

-- Is it right to solely express these difficulties as resulting from pressure from media owners?

-- Has there been any examination into the allegations that pressure from both central and local administrations towards journalists and media institutions has taken place. If so, what have been the findings of these examinations?

-- Has the allegation that those in a position of political power are trying to control the media through the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) been investigated by yourself?

-- Are the alleged activities of RTÜK also part of its job description?

-- Does the fact that your government is being associated with activities that infringe on basic human rights make you uncomfortable?

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)