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Author: Sahika Erkonan, Postdoctoral Researcher in Armenian-Turkish Relations, University of Cambridge
Original article: https://theconversation.com/turkeys-silencing-of-an-independent-radio-station-highlights-the-countrys-escalating-assault-on-media-freedom-243195
Anyone who advocates for justice in Turkey is faced with the state’s relentless crackdown on freedom. In the past few months alone, several pro-Kurdish elected mayors have been removed from their posts, and a four-day film festival in Istanbul was cancelled in protest at a ban on showing Queer, a drama starring British actor Daniel Craig.
Around the same time, on October 16, an independent Istanbul-based radio station called Açık Radyo was shut down. The station’s daily news programme hosted a guest on April 24 who referred to the atrocities committed against the Armenian population in 1915 as “genocide”, which Turkey still denies having ever carried out. The guest spoke about the ban on commemorating the victims in Turkey, which Armenians do annually also on April 24.
Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council punished Açık Radyo by invoking the law against using the word “genocide” while speaking about the events of 1915 and rescinded its broadcasting licence.
Founded in 1995 as a non-profit media organisation, Açık Radyo quickly became a crucial independent voice in Turkey’s otherwise homogenised media landscape. Station producers made programmes from 23 different countries across various continents, as well as airing shows that covered the global climate emergency, endangered cultures, and animal and human rights. It provided a rare space in Turkey’s media where a range of voices, both domestic and from elsewhere, could be heard.
After its licence had been revoked, the station posted on X (formerly known as Twitter): “As millions of listeners can easily attest, Açık Radyo cannot be silenced thanks to the social impact it has created over the years.” The station is now back on the air digitally under the name Apacik, which loosely translates as “very open” in English.
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Turkey’s media landscape today
Under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who led his Justice and Development (AK) party to a landslide victory in elections in 2002, Turkey has experienced a relentless shift toward authoritarianism. The country has always exercised an oppressive level of control, especially when it comes to Kurdish media, but its once relatively vibrant media landscape has now been greatly reduced. Journalists who critique the government face intimidation, job loss or imprisonment.
According to reports by Bianet, an independent news agency based in Istanbul, 55 journalists were detained in 2023 alone. At least 81 media workers left their jobs due to layoffs or clashes with editorial directives.
Journalists also frequently faced targeted harassment, with 42 experiencing physical attacks or threats, and 121 accused of defamation or slander. Simply “insulting the president” has become grounds for prosecution, with 22 journalists on trial under this charge in 2023.
The same reports indicate that the government’s broadcasting authority issued 18 suspensions and 56 fines that year, totalling nearly 30 million Turkish lira (£687,000). And over 900 news articles were restricted by court orders, with “disinformation” charges levied in at least 33 cases. The constitutional court, at times, has acknowledged infringements, and has ordered compensation for imprisoned journalists. But the broader climate remains oppressive.
When Erdoğan came to power, he initially promoted a more open society and seemed willing to confront Turkey’s past. In public speeches, he offered condolences to Armenians for what was done to them in 1915, and suggested it was time to apologise for the massacre of Kurds by the Turkish military in 1938 in Dersim and the military coup of 1980.
These gestures came alongside early reforms to enhance democratic rights and strengthen freedom of speech, alongside starting negotiations for Turkey to join the EU. These moves were together welcomed with cautious optimism by civil society groups, politicians and activists for peace and justice.
But such openness was short-lived. The authorities’ harsh crackdown in 2013 on protesters contesting plans to redevelop Gezi Park, one of the few remaining green spaces in central Istanbul, revealed their autocratic intentions.
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State censorship and media repression are a constant feature of life in Turkey. But this is not a new phenomenon. Denialism, particularly with respect to the Armenian genocide, was a core part of the Turkish state’s identity long before Erdoğan. His administration has intensified this legacy and utilised it to bolster nationalism all while silencing critical voices.
The closure of an independent media outlet like Açık Radyo is one of the latest assaults on freedom of speech in Turkey. But it is inextricably linked to a policy of denial that has defined the Turkish state since 1915 – and is itself part of the country’s continued fear of confronting its own past.
It is only by facing up to the past that we can advocate for a global future where every voice is heard, every story acknowledged, and every injustice confronted.