Latest news with #RTUK
LBCI
27-03-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Turkey deports BBC journalist over 'public order' threat, fines TV channels
Turkish authorities deported a BBC News correspondent on Thursday after detaining him for 17 hours and branding him a "threat to public order." Mark Lowen had been in Turkey to cover mass street protests triggered by the arrest and jailing of Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. BBC News CEO Deborah Turness called the deportation "extremely troubling" and said the broadcaster would raise the issue with Turkish authorities. Lowen, who previously lived in Turkey for five years, said his expulsion was "extremely distressing", adding that press freedom is essential to democracy. Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan's biggest political rival who leads him in some polls, was jailed on Sunday, pending trial on corruption charges which he denies. Imamoglu and his supporters say his detention is politically motivated and anti-democratic, an assertion that Erdogan's government denies. His arrest has prompted the largest anti-government protests in Turkey in more than a decade and has led to the detention of nearly 1,900 people across the country. Meanwhile, Turkey's media watchdog, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK), imposed fines on four broadcasters over coverage related to the arrest of Imamoglu, a RTUK member said. Sanctions were issued against programmes aired on pro-opposition channels SZC TV, Tele1, and Halk TV as well as NOW TV, for alleged violations. Additionally, SZC TV was ordered to halt broadcasting for 10 days, with RTUK warning that a third violation could result in the revocation of its licence. Reuters
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Turkey escalates media crackdown over protest coverage
Turkey on Thursday stepped up a crackdown on media coverage of mass protests since the arrest of Istanbul's popular mayor, deporting a BBC journalist and imposing a 10-day broadcast ban on an opposition TV channel. The moves came after police detained 11 Turkish journalists, including an AFP photographer, who were covering the worst street protests to hit Turkey since 2013. The protests erupted on March 19 after the arrest and subsequent jailing of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's biggest political rival. Defying a protest ban, vast crowds have hit the streets daily, with the nightly rallies often descending into running battles with riot police, whose crackdowns have drawn international condemnation. Earlier on Thursday, Turkey deported a BBC journalist covering the protests on grounds he posed "a threat to public order", the British broadcaster said. Mark Lowen was taken from his Istanbul hotel on Wednesday and detained for 17 hours before being deported in what BBC News CEO Deborah Turness called "an extremely troubling incident". So far, more than 1,879 people have been detained since March 19, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Thursday. By 1400 GMT, 10 of the 11 detained Turkish journalists had been freed. AFP's Yasin Akgul, the last one, was expected to be released during the afternoon. - Broadcast ban for opposition TV - Also Thursday, Turkey's broadcasting watchdog RTUK imposed a 10-day broadcast ban on opposition TV channel Sozcu, citing alleged incitement to "hatred and hostility" in its coverage of the protests. "The broadcaster... was given a 10-day broadcast suspension," RTUK said, warning that if it was found guilty of further "violations" after the ban expired, its licence would be revoked. During a series of pre-dawn raids on Monday, police detained 11 journalists, eight in Istanbul and three in Izmir. A day later, an Istanbul court remanded AFP's Akgul, 35, and six others in custody for "taking part in illegal rallies and marches". The move sparked condemnations from rights groups and the Paris-based international news agency. But the court on Thursday ordered their release, the MLSA rights group said. Turkey's Journalists' Union said the other four had also been freed. Despite the move, Akgul's lawyer told AFP the charges against him had "not been dropped". AFP chairman Fabrice Fries had condemned Akgul's jailing as "unacceptable", demanding he be swiftly freed as he was "not part of the protest" and only covering it as a journalist. - 'A monumental injustice' - "Yasin Akgul's release is welcome and constitutes redress for a monumental injustice," Erol Onderoglu of media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) told AFP on Thursday. The arrests had sparked international condemnation, including from the United Nations. Of the nearly 1,900 people detained since March 19, Yerlikaya said 260 had been remanded in custody, 468 granted conditional release, 489 freed and another 662 cases were still being processed. He said 150 police officers had been hurt in the protests after being "attacked with sticks, stones, acid, axes and Molotov cocktails". Meeting the international press in Istanbul, Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said the justice system was independent and impartial, insisting that Turkey was "a state of law". He rejected any claim that Imamoglu's arrest was "political". - Major protest Saturday - Medical students and a handful of lecturers hit the streets of the capital Ankara again Thursday, many with their faces covered to avoid being identified by the police. Students in Istanbul organised a protest march at 6:30 pm (1530 GMT) through Sisli, a district whose CHP mayor was also arrested and jailed in the police operation last week that netted Imamoglu. On Wednesday, the Istanbul city council elected Nuri Aslan as interim mayor to try to head off the threat of the government naming its own trustee to run Turkey's economic powerhouse. The main opposition CHP, which has staged mass rallies outside City Hall for the first seven nights after Imamoglu's arrest, has called for a major gathering on Saturday. Erdogan has repeatedly denounced the protests as "street terror" and stepped up his attacks on the CHP and its leader Ozgur Ozel. bur-hmw/js
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Turkey deports BBC journalist over 'public order' threat, fines TV channels
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish authorities deported a BBC News correspondent on Thursday after detaining him for 17 hours and branding him a "threat to public order". Mark Lowen had been in Turkey to cover mass street protests triggered by the arrest and jailing of Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. BBC News CEO Deborah Turness called the deportation "extremely troubling" and said the broadcaster would raise the issue with Turkish authorities. Lowen, who previously lived in Turkey for five years, said his expulsion was "extremely distressing", adding that press freedom is essential to democracy. Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan's biggest political rival who leads him in some polls, was jailed on Sunday, pending trial on corruption charges which he denies. Imamoglu and his supporters say his detention is politically motivated and anti-democratic, an assertion that Erdogan's government denies. His arrest has prompted the largest anti-government protests in Turkey in more than a decade and has led to the detention of nearly 1,900 people across the country. Meanwhile, Turkey's media watchdog, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK), imposed fines on four broadcasters over coverage related to the arrest of Imamoglu, a RTUK member said. Sanctions were issued against programmes aired on pro-opposition channels SZC TV, Tele1, and Halk TV as well as NOW TV, for alleged violations. Additionally, SZC TV was ordered to halt broadcasting for 10 days, with RTUK warning that a third violation could result in the revocation of its licence.
Reuters
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Turkey deports BBC journalist over 'public order' threat, fines TV channels
ANKARA, March 27 (Reuters) - Turkish authorities deported a BBC News correspondent on Thursday after detaining him for 17 hours and branding him a "threat to public order". Mark Lowen had been in Turkey to cover mass street protests triggered by the arrest and jailing of Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. BBC News CEO Deborah Turness called the deportation "extremely troubling" and said the broadcaster would raise the issue with Turkish authorities. Lowen, who previously lived in Turkey for five years, said his expulsion was "extremely distressing", adding that press freedom is essential to democracy. Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan's biggest political rival who leads him in some polls, was jailed on Sunday, pending trial on corruption charges which he denies. Imamoglu and his supporters say his detention is politically motivated and anti-democratic, an assertion that Erdogan's government denies. His arrest has prompted the largest anti-government protests in Turkey in more than a decade and has led to the detention of nearly 1,900 people across the country. Meanwhile, Turkey's media watchdog, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK), imposed fines on four broadcasters over coverage related to the arrest of Imamoglu, a RTUK member said. Sanctions were issued against programmes aired on pro-opposition channels SZC TV, Tele1, and Halk TV as well as NOW TV, for alleged violations. Additionally, SZC TV was ordered to halt broadcasting for 10 days, with RTUK warning that a third violation could result in the revocation of its licence.
The Independent
26-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Turkish state media accused of concealing reality of mass anti-Erdogan protests
As thousands rally in the streets of Istanbul in mass demonstrations against the government, Turkish state media is accused of turning the other way and concealing the reality of the protests from the population. Turkey has been rocked by seven days of widespread demonstrations against president Recep Rayyip Erdogan, following the arrest of his political rival and Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. Tens of thousands have faced rubber bullets and tear gas from Turkish authorities, who have arrested around 1,100 people. Pro-government cable channel NTV, according to the Guardian, has instead focused on finance minister Megmet Şimşek's efforts to stabilise the economy. State television, meanwhile, has shown Erdogan speaking of his government's achievements following an iftar dinner. No footage of the protests or interviews with the demonstrators were broadcast by either channel, opponents say. Turkey's broadcasting watchdog RTUK on Saturday threatened to revoke the license of stations airing live coverage of the protests for 'biased' coverage - at which point some channels cut away from coverage of the clashes. But a few independent and opposition stations have had almost non-stop coverage. 'More than 90 per cent of the media in Turkey is directly or indirectly controlled by the palace,' Bülent Mumay, a journalist who was given a suspended sentence for publishing information in defiance of a government order in 2023, told The Independent. 'The remaining independent media face legal and financial pressure from the state,' Mr Mumay, who works for German outlet Deutsche Welle, added. 'One of the reasons why citizens take to the streets is that they cannot see their problems in the media. They participate in the Imamoğlu protests partly to show their own problems and to express their rebellion.' Press freedom has not deteriorated in Turkey, Mr Mumay said, because 'we do not have press freedom to deteriorate'. Calling for a boycott of the TV stations and businesses failing to cover the protests, Ozgur Ozel, the chairman of Mr Imamoglu's Republican People's Party (CHP), said the party is 'taking note of every television channel that ignores this moment'. He accused the advertisers on the channels of 'serving (Erdogan's) palace' while catering to opposition voters. "This is not just about not watching their channels - whoever buys their products is complicit," Mr Ozel said. Erol Onderoglu, the Turkey correspondent for Reporters Without Borders (RSF), says the journalist community in Turkey is 'extremely concerned' about the 'very serious shift to a mindset which is trying to get rid of critical media, and journalists reporting properly about political corruptions, clientelism, wrongdoings'. 'We are pursuing our effort to defend the remaining 15 per cent of remaining independent media in Turkey,' he added. 'Eighty five per cent is already controlled by the government, by ideological affiliation, or by financial interest.' People should 'not be surprised by this media polarisation and this toxic environment', Mr Onderoglu said. After Erdogan has taken control of much of corporate media ownership over the past two decades, media which is critical of the government has tried to become the 'mainstream media'. 'We have seen the main damage made in the media sector, to liquidate what we all call editorial independence. Political instruction to courts, political instruction to journalism circles, have deteriorated all kinds of justice in society.' And it is not just Turkish television that is affected. The Turkish government has issued court orders to social media site X to shut down the accounts of more than 700 journalists, media outlets and activists - a move X has said it is fighting in court. The Media and Law Studies Association, a civil society group, said 11 journalists who were detained for covering banned protests in Istanbul have been taken to the city's Caglayan Courthouse to answer charges of violating the law on meetings and demonstrations. The journalists were among more than 200 people prosecutors have recommended for imprisonment pending trial, including left-wing activists rounded up at their homes in raids early Monday. By late Tuesday, 172 people, including seven journalists, had been jailed ahead of trial. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said early Tuesday that police had detained 43 "provocateurs" over what he said were "vile insults" hurled at Erdogan and his family at protests. Later he posted that 1,418 people had been detained since Wednesday last week, and 979 suspects were currently in custody. "No concessions will be made to those who attempt to terrorize the streets," he wrote on X.
