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Do You Remember, Mr. Prime Minister?

18.11.2014 11:31

The victimizations caused by the postmodern coup of Feb. 28, 1997, are still fresh in people's memories. This coup had devastating effects on politics, the economy, imam-hatip schools, Quran courses, religious groups, the bureaucracy, etc., even though its main actors are on trial today.This coup brought the country to the brink of total insanity by pumping unreal fears of fundamentalism. The media had its share of victimization in the form of accreditation being denied. During this process, numerous journalists were treated like second-class citizens. In breach of the Constitution, they were prohibited from having access to news events. The Kanal 7 and Samanyolu TV channels and the Yeni Şafak and Zaman newspapers were on the blacklist.Two institutions staunchly pursued this discriminatory and prohibitionist attitude: the Ahmet Necdet Sezer-led presidency and the General Staff. Even under those circumstances, this prohibitionist attitude was not adopted by the Prime Ministry or ministr

The victimizations caused by the postmodern coup of Feb. 28, 1997, are still fresh in people's memories. This coup had devastating effects on politics, the economy, imam-hatip schools, Quran courses, religious groups, the bureaucracy, etc., even though its main actors are on trial today.
This coup brought the country to the brink of total insanity by pumping unreal fears of fundamentalism. The media had its share of victimization in the form of accreditation being denied. During this process, numerous journalists were treated like second-class citizens. In breach of the Constitution, they were prohibited from having access to news events. The Kanal 7 and Samanyolu TV channels and the Yeni Şafak and Zaman newspapers were on the blacklist.
Two institutions staunchly pursued this discriminatory and prohibitionist attitude: the Ahmet Necdet Sezer-led presidency and the General Staff. Even under those circumstances, this prohibitionist attitude was not adopted by the Prime Ministry or ministries. With Abdullah Gül's election as president, the Presidency was normalized. Gül opened the doors of the Presidency to everyone, including the Taraf, Cumhuriyet, Zaman and Hürriyet dailies, and he even decorated outcasts of the past -- Orhan Pamuk and Ahmet Kaya -- with awards.
Despite the overall normalization in the country, this practice of denying accreditation -- initiated by such top brass as then-Chief of General Staff Gen. İsmail Hakkı Karadayı -- continued until 2012. Zaman, Yeni Şafak, Star, Milli Gazete, the Cihan news agency and the like were not allowed to cover press conferences or military events until 2012. The army backpedaled from this mistake, and for some time it has been abstaining from any discrimination of the media.
At that time, I personally experienced these heart-rending practices, both in my capacity as an ordinary citizen and as a journalist. I was one of the 11 journalists who had been invited to Afghanistan to observe the activities of the peacekeeping force. I was the only journalist from Turkey, and at some point in the program every journalist was to meet with the commander of his/her own country's troops there. We arrived at the headquarters. Each journalist was greeted by the commander of his/her country, but I was left out in the cold. The organizers couldn't make sense of the mishap and they were speechless. The meeting had been canceled at the last moment. People were curious about this development, but I couldn't tell them the truth at the expense of undermining my country's prestige. "In my country, the military hierarchy is important. I think this should have been coordinated with Ankara," was all I could say. But everyone could sense that something was wrong with this anti-democratic practice.
The accreditation shame reared its ugly head in a tragic manner on Keş Mountain after the helicopter carrying then-Grand Unity Party (BBP) leader Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu crash-landed. Cihan news agency reporter Lütfi Aykurt, who had gone to the crash site to cover the rescue operations at an altitude of 2,500 meters in the winter, was not admitted to the location of the military helicopter after military authorities asked him about his agency and he was left on the mountain. However, another journalist had been carried to and from the site on the same day. Following this incident, I wrote an article titled "Will you save me if I am left alone atop a mountain?" that had great repercussions.
Several months later, then-Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu invited me to go on a visit he would make to Lebanon. Enis Berberoğlu, of the Hürriyet newspaper, was also coming. In addition to the official talks, the Turkish delegation would visit the Turkmen village of Kavaşra and the Turkish peacekeeping force, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Following a meeting in Beirut, then-Press Advisor Osman Sert told me that Mr. Davutoğlu would like to talk with me. I went to his room and learned the following story: the General Staff had been cold to my inclusion in the delegation during the visit to the military troops because I, as a columnist for the Zaman newspaper, would not be given accreditation. Either only Berberoğlu would attend or the minister would go alone. No solution could be found after extended negotiations, and Davutoğlu finally said he would not accept this discrimination and the General Staff had to backpedal. Davutoğlu said we would visit the troops together. I congratulated him for his democratic stance.
Unfortunately, such disgraceful practices are no stranger to us, due to our limping democracy. Thus, we are familiar with the anti-democratic shame of accreditation denial, which was implemented by Sezer and by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) from Feb. 28, 1997 to 2012 with minor exceptions. When I learned that the practice of denying accreditation, launched by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan -- who had also been a victim of the Feb. 28 process -- as soon as he became president, was recently also adopted by the Prime Ministry this week, I just happened to remember the above-mentioned conversation with Mr. Davutoğlu, who now suggests that we should reject the Freedom House report that says the media in Turkey is not free. Mr. Prime Minister, do you remember it, too?

ABDÜLHAMİT BİLİCİ (Cihan/Today's Zaman)



 
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