By Ramya Kannan
The detention and subsequent arrest of Deniz Yucel have highlighted the rising suppression of dissent in Turkey. A reporter for the German newspaper Die Welt, Yucel is accused of engaging in propaganda and inciting violence on behalf of a terrorist organisation. However, the real reason for his arrest seems to be a report written by him on the email correspondences of Turkeys energy minister Berat Albayrak. These emails were obtained by a leftist hacktivist group Redhack, and they were covered by many international media houses. Since Albayrak is President Recep Tayyip Erdogans son-in-law, it is widely believed that the arrest was an attempt to mask the unlawful practices that the Turkish leaders engage in.
The arrest is reflective of the scenario in Turkey since July 2016, when a coup was orchestrated to overthrow the President. Since the failure of the coup, the government has initiated a process of a crackdown on media outlets, publishing houses and journalists to prevent any such future attempts. There have been instances of suspension as well as a violation of human rights. The restrictions on press freedom have ensured that many of these occurrences go unreported. The number of arrest warrants issued against journalists, and detainees, has been on a constant rise. Most of them were prosecuted on claims of indulging in terrorist activities.
The media’s manipulated projection
Since July 2016, Turkey has steadily transformed into a citizens worst nightmare. As dissent becomes punishable, the media is caught between the responsibility to inform and survival. The increased government control over the dissemination of valuable content has forced a shift from conventional media to more discreet forms like online news portals, where it is easier to hide ones identity.
Journalists who managed to escape the fascist approach have vocalised their disapproval of the governments action. One of the foremost Turkish journalists who was forced to flee the country, Can Dünder, expressed how the current treatment of media was worse than that during the military rule in the 1980s. He called Turkey the biggest jail for journalists and slammed European countries for being silent about the attacks on freedom.
Self interested legal restraints
The legal system has been manipulated to serve the interests of the rulers. The antiterrorism law has often been used as a tool to falsely charge journalists who do not stay in line with the governments propagandist approach. Moreover, the strict defamation laws and a separate category of laws for insulting the President have ensured that any form of opposition can lead to punitive measures. The lack of independence of the judicial system makes the mistreatment of journalists a reality with no alternatives.
Apart from these direct measures of suppression, other policies such as sanctioning of broadcasters who do not comply with the law and the accreditation system have been crucial in creating a structure based on acceptance of restrictions. It has ushered in an era of self-surveillance, where the media controls the extent of its own activities in order to save itself.
The numerous restrictions on the media, both hidden and explicit, and the relentless control over the freedom of expression are merely instruments. The government expands its hold over the population and turns citizens into subjects by means of these instruments. Turkey has ushered in an atmosphere where lack of information has become the norm. As long as the international community, especially European countries, continues to stay quiet over the silencing of the media, the ideals of democracy will remain under threat of erosion.