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Themass media in Turkey includes a wide variety of domestic and foreign periodicals.[1] 90% of the media ownership isconcentrated in the hands of a few pro-government media groups.[2] Inevitablycensorship in Turkey is an issue, and in the 21st centurymany journalists have been arrested andwriters prosecuted. OnReporters Without Borders'Press Freedom Index it has fallen from being ranked around 100 in 2005 to around 159 in 2025.
In reaction to thefailed coup d'état on 15 July 2016, over 150 media organisations, including newspapers, television and radio channels, news agencies, magazines and publishing houses, have been closed by the government of Turkey, and 160 journalists have been jailed.[3]
By circulation, the most popular daily newspapers areSabah,Sözcü,Hürriyet,Posta, andMilliyet.[4] Thebroadcast media have a very high penetration assatellite dishes andcable systems are widely available.[1] The "Radio and Television Supreme Council" (RTÜK) is the government body overseeing the broadcast media.[1] Aside fromTurkish, the state television network offers some programs inArabic andKurdish.
Turkish consumers are the second-mostmedia illiterate when compared to countries inEurope, leaving them especially vulnerable to fake news, according to a 2018 study.[5] A combination of low education levels, low reading scores, low media freedom and low societal trust went into making the score, which saw Turkey being placed second lowest only toNorth Macedonia.[6][5]Conspiracy theories are a prevalentphenomenon in Turkish media.[7] According to theReuters Institute Digital News Report 2018,Turkey was the country where people complained the most about completely made-up stories.[8][9]
According to polling in 2024 byPew Research Center 33% of adult Turks believe that media in turkey have somewhat good or very good influence on the country a decline from 57% who said so in 2017, while 63% stated that they had a vary bad or somewhat bad influence on the country. People with a favorable viewRecep Tayyip Erdoğan viewed the media more positively with 47% saying that it had a good influence on the country, compared to 23% of people who viewedErdoğan unfavorably.[10]
TheConstitution of Turkey, at art. 28, states that the press is free and shall not be censored. Yet, Constitutional guarantees are undermined by restrictive provisions in the Criminal Code, Criminal Procedure Code, and anti-terrorism laws, effectively leaving prosecutors and judges with ample discretion to repress ordinary journalistic activities.[11] The Turkish judiciary can and do censure media outlets under other constitutional provisions and loosely interpreted laws, such as “protecting basic characteristics of the Republic” and “safeguarding the indivisible integrity of the State with its territory and nation.”[12]
Freedom of information principles have been introduced with the April 2004 Right to Information Act, affording to citizens and legal persons the right to request information from public institutions and private organizations that qualify as public institutions, although the implementation of the law is lacking.[12]
The 2007 Press Law was coupled with a “Regulation of Publications on the Internet and Suppression of Crimes Committed Through Such Publications”, authorising the Telecommunications Communication Presidency (TIB) to execute court orders to block websites and to issue blocking orders for the content providers in or outside Turkey for committing crimes such as child pornography, encouraging drug use and, especially, crimes against Atatürk. Between 2007 and 2010 around 3,700 websites and platforms including YouTube, MySpace, and GeoCities have been blocked.[12]
Media professionals in Turkey facejob insecurity and lack ofsocial security, being often forced to work without contract and outside the protection provided by the Law 212 on the rights of journalists. Without a contact under Law 212 media workers in Turkey cannot obtain a press badge and cannot take part in theTurkish Journalists Union (Türkiye Gazeteciler Sendikası, TGS)
Turkey's 2001 financial crisis further strengthened media owners' hands, as 3–5,000 journalists were fired, and the most troublesome ones targeted first.[13]
Some themes have long remained quasi-taboo in the Turkish media, including the role of the Army, the Cyprus issue and the rights of the Kurdish and Armenian minorities. The interests of media owners in the major media conglomerates inevitably cast a shadow over the objectivity and independence of the controlled media outlets.[14]
Ethics in Turkish journalism is based on a couple of documents: the “Declaration of Rights and Responsibilities” by Turkish Journalists Association (1998) and the “Code of Professional Ethics of the Press” by Turkish Press Council (1989).[14]
In 2006 RTÜK introduced a voluntary ombudsman mechanism that media outlets can introduce in order to evaluate their audience's reactions. Yet, ombudsmen lack independence, as they are high-ranking employees of the same media groups.[14]
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(December 2019) |
Turkey hosts around 3,100 newspapers, including 180 national ones. Only 15% of these are daily newspapers. Turkish print outlets privilege columns and opinions over pure news, and are often politically polarised. Broadcast media include hundreds of TV stations and thousands of radio stations including some in minority languages. The introduction of Kurdish-language media has been hailed as a big progress, although their quality remains poor.[11]
The main issues concerning mainstream media in Turkey are the heavy concentration of ownership, the widespread self-censorship of journalists and media professionals (also due to their vulnerability to political powers) and the presence of nationalist rhetoric and hate speech.[15]
More than two thirds of the media (national newspapers, radio and TV channels) are owned by few cross-media groups, whose activities expand in other economic sectors (tourism, finance, auto, construction and banking). These media conglomerates thus rely on alliances with parts of the political and bureaucratic elites to sustain their business interests. As a result, the media landscape of Turkey is highly diverse but also very biased and nationalistic, and media coverage and critical positions reflects media owners' preferences and interests. Independent journalism is a rare and dangerous endeavour, at risk of high job insecurity.[15]
The centralisation ofpublic procurement decisions within the prime minister's office (which controls the Privatization High Council (OİB), the Housing Development Administration (TOKİ), and the Defence Industry Executive Committee) has stepped up the economic leverage of the government towards economic conglomerates that also control Turkish media.
In 2004 three major media groups dominated advertising revenues:Doğan Media Group and Sabah took 80% of newspaper advertising, and Doğan, Sabah and Çukurova took 70% of television advertising.[13]
In the Turkish context, highly concentrated corporate media power (such as Dogan’s) is even more significant when three additional factors are considered: (1) the willingness of corporate owners to ‘instrumentalize’ reporting in order to fit the wider political-economic interests of the parent company; (2) the weakness of journalists and other employees in the face of the power of corporate owners; and (3) the fact thatcorporate power is combined with restrictive state regulation on issues of freedom of speech.[13]
Thebroadcast media have a very high penetration assatellite dishes andcable systems are widely available.[1] The "Radio and Television Supreme Council" (RTÜK) is the government body overseeing the broadcast media.[1]
TV channels gather around half of the advertising market revenues, i.e. 1 billion dollars (56% in 2005, 50% in 2008, 48.2% in 2009). The share of the print media (36% in 2005, 33% in 2008, 31.2% in 2009) and of the radio (3.4% in 2005, 3.3% in 2009) are in decline too. The advertising market is deemed relatively small when compared to the number of media, thus endangering the survival of the smaller media and constituting a barrier to the entry of new actors in the market. Turkish media also remain dependent on revenues from other activities of the economic conglomerates that own them.[16]
| This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(December 2019) |
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Newspapers with oppositional editorial line against the government corresponds to 65% of daily newspapers in circulation while pro-government newspapers's share is 25%.[17][18]
The total number of readers of print media in Turkey is low, when compared to the big population of the country (95 newspapers per 1000 inhabitants). Circulating newspapers where estimated at 2,450 in 2010, of which 5 national, 23 regional and other local ones.[19]
The media hubs of the country are Istanbul and Ankara. By circulation, the most popular daily newspapers areHürriyet (330,000 daily sales in 2016),Sabah (300,000),Posta (290,000),Sözcü andHabertürk.[17] Major Turkish daily newspapers are published every day of the year, including Sundays, religious and secular public holidays.
Big media conglomerates, with substantial interests in other economic sectors, dominate the media market and own all the major print and broadcast media. These are theDoğan Group,Turkuvaz,Ciner Group,Çukurova Group andDoğuş Group:[19]
Magazines and periodicals too have a low circulation when compared with Turkey's population. The main ones areTempo, Turkuvaz Group'sYeni Aktüel (8,000), andNewsweek Türkiye (5,000). Business magazines includeEkonomist andPara (around 9,000 copies each).Birikim is a well-reputed liberal-left journal, publishing elaborate articles on social and political issues.[19]Satirical magazines have a long tradition in Turkey, with the first magazine (Diyojen) published in 1869.[20] There are currently around 20satirical magazines; the leading ones arePenguen (70,000 weekly circulation),LeMan (50,000) andUykusuz.[21] Historical examples includeOğuz Aral's magazineGırgır (which reached a circulation of 500,000 in the 1970s) andMarko Paşa (launched 1946).[22] Others includeL-Manyak andLombak.
Minority newspapers includeIHO andApoyevmatini inGreek language;Agos,Jamanak andNor Marmara inArmenian language; andŞalom by theJewish community. Their survival is often at stake.
Distribution networks are in the hands ofDoğan Group’s Yay-Sat andTurkuvaz Group’s Turkuvaz Dağıtım Pazarlama.[19]
Radio enjoys a large number of listeners in theTurkey.[citation needed] There are more than 1000 radio stations in the country. The first attempts at radio broadcasting began in 1921 inIstanbul, Turkey. The first radio broadcast in Turkey began on May 6, 1927. In 1927,New York City,London,Berlin,Vienna,Moscow andTehran connection was established. In 1945, Turkey's first university radio with ITU Radio was established. First state radio, on May 1, 1964TRT Radio began broadcasts, holding monopoly in radio broadcasting until 1994. Establishment of private radio stations began in the early 1990s by young visionary entrepreneurs. The first comers were Energy FM founded by Vedat Yelkenci who also launched the first Music Television TV channels Genc TV <https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genç_TV> and thereafter the Number One-MTV under licence by MTV Europe, Number one FM, launched by Omer Karacan and Ali Karacan, Genc Radyo launched by Osman Ataman, Power FM launched by Cem Hakko, Super FM and Kral FM launched by Cem Uzan, Capital Radio launched by Kalafatoglu. Internet radio in the late 1990s began to be established.[23]
In 2010 Turkey had around 1,100 private radio stations, of which 100 available on cable - 36 national ones, 102 regional ones, and 950 local ones. TRT four radio channels includeRadyo 1 (general),Radyo 2 (TRT-FM) (Turkish classical, folk and pop music),Radyo 3 (primarily classical music and also jazz, polyphonic and western pop music, broadcasts news in English, French and German), andRadyo 4 (Turkish Music). TRT's international radio serviceTürkiye‘nin Sesi /Voice of Turkey broadcasts in 26 languages. TRT also has 10 regional radio stations.[23]
Private radio stations offer mainly music programmes; the most popular ones areKral FM (Turkish pop music),Süper FM (Western pop music),Metro FM (Western pop music),Power Türk (Turkish pop music), andBest FM (Turkish pop music). Several independent radio stations also broadcast in Turkey, including Istanbul'sAçık Radyo (Open Radio), the first to be financially supported by listeners, and encouraging listeners to participate in public discussions on sensitive issues to promote open dialogue.[23]
An Armenian-language internet radio,Nor Radio, started broadcasting in 2009.
| This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(December 2019) |
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Television is the main information[citation needed] and entertainment source inTurkey. Turks have an average daily TV viewing time of 3.5 hours per person (3.45 during weekends), according to a RTÜK survey.[16]
Television wasintroduced in Turkey in 1968 by the government media providerTRT, preceded by the first Turkish television channelITU TV in 1952.Color television was introduced in 1981. TRT held a monopoly as state-owned public broadcaster for twenty years, until on 26 May 1989 Turkey's first private television channelStar TV started its broadcasts fromGermany - thus legally not breaching the regulations. In the following years more than 100 local TVs and 500 local radio stations began operating without licenses. The TRT official monopoly was finally lifted in August 1993, with a Constitutional amendment, liberalizing private broadcasting. The newcomers were, Erol Aksoy launching Show TV, Cem Uzan and Ahmet Ozal launching Interstar (later named as Star TV), Vedat Yelkenci launching the first Music TVGenc TV and thereafter Number One MTV together with Karacan Brothers[16][24]
Today the public broadcaster TRT has 11 national television channels:TRT 1 (general),TRT 2 (culture and art),TRT 3 (youth channel with sports and music programs and live broadcasts from theGrand National Assembly of Turkey at specific hours),TRT 4 (education),TRT Müzik (wide range of music from traditional Turkish music to jazz). It also broadcasts a regional channelTRT GAP for the southeastern region of Turkey, and two international channelsTRT Türk for Europe, USA and Australia, andTRT Avaz for the Balkans, Central Asia and Caucasus. A full-time Kurdish-language channel,TRT 6, was launched in 2009 within the democratization process.[16]
Turkey's television market included 24 national, 16 regional and 215 local television stations in 2010.[16] It is defined by a handful of big channels led byKanal D,ATV andShow, with 14%, 10% and 9.6% market share in 2013, respectively.[25]
The main media conglomerates own all major TV channels:Demirören Group ownsKanal D,Star TV andCNN Türk,[26]Turkuvaz Group ownsATV,Çukurova Group ownsShow TV andSky Turk 360,Ciner Group ownsHabertürk andDoğuş Group ownsNTV.Kanal 7 is deemed controlled byMilli Görüş.Star Media Group ownsKanal 24 as well as theStar daily. In 2006Rupert Murdoch bought the majority ofİhlas Group’sTGRT channel.[16]
The main private TV channels, as well as TRT 1, offer a similar mix of entertainment and news. Samanyolu and Kanal 7 are the channels with a more religious editorial line.Roj TV is a pro-PKK channel broadcasting inKurdish language via satellite, rather popular in the South-East. Thematic TV channels include the 24/7 news channelsNTV,CNN Türk (a joint venture withCNN International),Habertürk,Sky Turk 360, andTGRT Haber. Music channels includeKral TV andNumber One TV.The quality of audiovisual media is limited by a lack of diversity and creativity among the media, and a "monolithic understanding of television broadcasting" given the quick imitation of popular programmes across channels.[16]
The most important reception platforms are terrestrial and satellite, with almost 50% of homes using satellite (of these 15% were pay services) at the end of 2009. Three services dominate the multi-channel market: the satellite platformsDigitürk andD-Smart and the cable TV serviceTürksat.[27]
The Turkish film art and industry, orYeşilçam (Green Pine), is an important part ofTurkish culture, and has flourished over the years, delivering entertainment to audiences inTurkey, expatriates acrossEurope, and more recently prospering in theArab world and in rare cases, theUnited States. The first movie exhibited in theOttoman Empire was theLumiere Brothers' 1895 film,L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat, which was shown inIstanbul in 1896. The first Turkish-made film was a documentary entitledAyastefanos'taki Rus Abidesinin Yıkılışı (Demolition of the Russian Monument atSan Stefano), directed byFuat Uzkınay and completed in 1914. The first narrative film,Sedat Simavi'sThe Spy, was released in 1917. Turkey's first sound film was shown in 1931.
The number of cinema spectator has risen since 2000, in parallel to economic growth, political liberalisation and improved quality of theatres. In 2009, around 255 movies were distributed in Turkey, with a reach of 35 million, of which 70 Turkish movies, which capitalised half of the audience. The cinema audience though remains below European average, and limited to the main cities.[28]
40 movies are produced yearly in Turkey. Award-winning Turkish films have often been supported by the European UnionEurimages film fund and by the Turkish Ministry of Culture, sometimes attracting more audience abroad than domestically. Two Turkish film companies have been bought by foreign investors in 2007 (Cinemars by USA'sColony Capital andAFM byEurasia Cinemas from Russia).[28]
| This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(December 2019) |
Türk Telekom was established in 1995 as a state-owned company after the separation of postal and telecommunication services. It was privatized in 2005 (55%Oger Telecom, 30% state-owned, 15% public shares). In March 2009 it hosted 17.3 million land line phone users, 6 million ADSL users, and 12.6 million GSM users.[29]
Thetelecommunicationsliberalisation process started in Turkey in 2004 after the creation of the Telecommunication Authority, and is still ongoing as of May 2013.Private sector companies operate inmobile telephony,long distance telephony andInternet access. There were 16.5 million fixedphone lines, 62.8 millionmobile phone subscribers, and 6.2 millionbroadband subscribers by December 2009.[30]
Telecommunications liberalisation in Turkey is progressing, but at a slow pace. The Telecommunication Authority (now renamedBilgi İletişim ve Teknolojileri Kurumu orBTK), while technically an independent organization, is still controlled by the Ministry of Transport and Communications.[31]
While progress is being made (for example, local as well aslong distance calls are now open to competition), theincumbent has so far managed in many areas to restrict access and protect itsmonopoly. For example,wholesale line rental is still not available to alternative operators, making it necessary forsubscribers to pay two bills (one for line rental to the incumbent, and one to the chosen operator). The incumbent has so far managed to prevent any operator from connecting its ownfiber optic cable at local loop unbundling exchanges, though it is technically required to allow this. Recently, the incumbent announced it is acquiringInvitel, one of only two other players in the inter-city capacity business, raising questions as to how the Turkish Competition Board will treat the acquisition.
The lack of progress by the BTK in ensuring a competitive playing field can be evidenced by themarket share the incumbent still holds. In broadband, the incumbent'sprovider still occupies roughly 95%share of the market. The Governmental Audit Office of the President (T.C. Cumhurbaşkanlığı Devlet Denetleme Kurulu) issued a highly critical report of the BTK in February 2010, listing 115 findings to be addressed. For example, the report found #20 points out that the BTK has completed only 50% to 78% of its stated work plans in each of the years from 2005 to 2008.[32]
Alternative operators are rapidly growing, yet much progress needs to be made by the BTK to improve the competitive landscape.
The political authority is theMinistry of Transport, Maritime and Communication . But there are also two supreme councils;Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) andInformation and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK). While internet and point to point telecommunication is controlled by BTK, radio and television broadcast is controlled by RTÜK.
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The Internet inTurkey has been available to the public since 1993, although experimentation atEge University started in 1987. The first available connections weredial-up.Cable Internet has been available since 1998 andADSL since 2001. Turkey has 70 million active Internet users as of 2022.[33]
CurrentlyTürk Telekom is the most widely used Internet service in Turkey, offering speeds from 16Mbit/s to 1000 Mbit/s. Alternative broadband companies, while mostly still using Turk Telekom infrastructure, such asTurkNet is also available meanwhile building their own fibre infrastructure in 5 cities[34] and offering only 1000 Mbit/s speed.Superonline is offering fibre broadband in 28 cities,[35] though the company is enlarging at a healthy pace. They currently offer up to 1000 Mbit/s speeds. Furthermore, relatively wide but not universal coverage of cable Internet is maintained byKablonet, offering speeds from 16 Mbit/s to 1000 Mbit/s.
Türk Telekom's monopoly and perceived excessive pricing have received numerous criticisms from users over the years.
The penetration and the usage of credit cards are very high in Turkey. However development of alternative payment systems will be helpful both by facilitating the shopping of the consumers owning credit cards and by familiarizing non-credit card holders with the e-commerce. In 2019 it was reported that the Internet users of Turkey had reached to 69,107,183 (12th highest number of internet users worldwide)[36] - amounting to 88% of Turkish households having internet access.[37] Wi-Fi in Turkey is free in all areas and easily accessible to all the citizens. Hotels, hostel, railway stations, airports have free access to internet and Wi-Fi.
Turkey implementsprotectionist policies to stimulate the local internet technology industry and enforcedata retention: In 2016 payment gatewayPayPal was forced to cease most of its operations in the country.[38]
Internet Entrepreneurship in Turkey, also called "Digital Bosphorus"[39] has reached several exits in last years. The biggest three of them have been Yemeksepeti,[40] Gittigidiyor[41] and Markafoni.[42] According to Sina Afra, the potential of the Turkish Internet market is bigger than in many other European countries.[43]
Internet in Turkey holds a 'Not Free' ranking inFreedom House's index.[44] Turkish government hasconstantly blocked websites likeFacebook,Twitter,YouTube and as of May 2017,Wikipedia wasinaccessible[45] According to Twitter's transparency report, Turkey leads in social media censorship.[46] till 15 January 2020; Wikipedia opened to access after theConstitutional Court of Turkey ruled that the block of Wikipedia violatedhuman rights and ordered it to be lifted on 26 December 2019.[47]Source:[4]
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The main news agencies in Turkey areAnadolu Ajansı (AA),Demirören Haber Ajansı (DHA),İhlas Haber Ajansı (İHA),Ajans HaberTürk (Ciner Group) andANKA. They often have access to expensive technical facilities thanks to being embedded in big media conglomerates.[48]
Part of the reason for journalistic weakness vis-a-vis owners is the lack of unions, as theInternational Federation of Journalists andEurop[12]ean Federation of Journalists noted in 2002:[13]
At the beginning of 1990s, workers of two major newspapers,Hürriyet andMilliyet, resigned from the union because of pressure from the employer (Aydin Dogan). Hostility from employers meant that some workplaces where there had been union organisation (including, for example,Tercüman,Günes, and the privately ownedUBA news agency) were closed down. Union organisation was not possible in newspapers (Star,Radikal, and others) nor in radio and television companies which began their publication and broadcasting lives later on. TheSabah group and other media groups have never permitted union organisation. (IFJ/EFJ, 2002: 4)[13]
Turkey's 2001 financial crisis further strengthened media owners' hands, as 3–5,000 journalists were fired, and the most troublesome ones targeted first.[13]
Media professionals in Turkey face job insecurity and lack of social security, being often forced to work without contract and outside the protection provided by the Law 212 on the rights of journalists. Without a contact under Law 212 media workers in Turkey cannot obtain a press badge and cannot take part in theTurkish Journalists Union (Türkiye Gazeteciler Sendikası, TGS), the only union recognised as a counterpart for the negotiation of the category'scollective contract. TGS' influence has diminished since the 1990s, under pressure from the media owners, and today journalists are cautious about union membership, in order to avoid retaliation from employers.[50]
Despite low levels of unionisation, many journalists' associations exist, includingTürkiye Gazeteciler Cemiyeti (Journalists Association of Turkey),Türkiye Gazeteciler Federasyonu (Federation of Journalists),Çağdaş Gazeteciler Derneği (Progressive Journalists Association),Ekonomi Muhabirleri Derneği (Association of Economy Reporters),Foto Muhabirleri Derneği (Association of Photo Reporters), andParlamento Muhabirleri Derneği (Association of Parliamentary Reporters).[50]
Employers organisations includeTelevizyon Yayıncıları Derneği (Association of Television Broadcasters),Anadolu Gazete Radyo ve Televizyon Yayıncıları Birliği (Union of Anatolian Newspaper, Radio and Television Publishers and Broadcasters),Televizyon Yayıncıları Birliği (Union of Television Broadcasters),Yayıncılar Birliği (Turkish Publishers’ Association).[50]
The advertising sector include the Turkish Association of Advertising Agencies (TAAA) (Reklamcılar Derneği), Association of Advertisers (Reklamverenler Derneği) and IAA Turkey (International Advertising Association).[50]
TheRadio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) is the government body overseeing the broadcast media.[1]It was established after the end of the state monopoly over broadcasting, with the Radio and Television Law no. 3984 in April 1994. It is tasked with assigning frequencies and issuing broadcasting permits and licenses to private companies, as well as monitoring their compliance with the legal framework. It has the power to issue penalties for non-compliance, ranging from warnings to the suspension of broadcastings (after complaints, since 2002 it can suspend single programmes rather than only the whole channel). It has no authority over the public service broadcaster TRT, which is subject to a separate law (no. 2954).[51]
Broadcasting standards set by RTÜK are seen as too wide and vague, as in “not violating the national and moral values of the community and the Turkish family structure”, “not undermining the state and its independence and the indisputable unity of the country with its people” and “not undermining the ideals and reforms of Atatürk”. Its interpretation of the law has been both arbitrary and severe, with disproportionate sanctions for non-compliers. RTÜK's claim of impartiality is undermined by its composition and nomination process, leading to strong risks of politicisation and control by the party in government.[51] The body members are elected by the Parliament, and are currently dominated by affiliates of the ruling AKP.[11] According toBianet, in 2014 RTÜK issued 78 warnings and 254 fines to television channels, and 12 warnings and 7 fines to radio stations.[11]
Since 2002, in order to regulate the frequencies, RTÜK partners with the Communications High Council HYK, founded in 1983 to approve communication policies, and the Telecommunication Authority TK, established in 2000 to regulate and control the telecommunication sector. TK is tasked with frequency planning, yet frequency auctions have often been unsuccessful due to lack of coordination between the three bodies as well as outside pressures from media conglomerates. The MGK (National Security Council) also intervened to oblige broadcasters to acquire a national security clearance document, in order to prevent the establishment of religious TV channels. In 2010 all radio and TV stations continued operating without licenses.[51]As long as Turkish media operate without licenses, RTÜK cannot enact its powers and force media groups to sell their shares to preventdominant positions and reduce media ownership concentration.[14]
TheAdvertising Self-Regulatory Board (Reklam Özdenetim Kurulu) was established by the members of the Advertisers Association, TAAA and by the media institutions in order to monitor advertising practices.TİAK (Television Audience Research Committee),BİAK (Press Research Committee), andRİAK (Radio Audience Research. Committee) are established to organise and monitor research about broadcasting and print media.[14]
BIA is a non-for-profit organization that monitors and reports violations of freedom of expression, monitors the newspapers’ coverage about human rights, woman and children rights issues, and the functioning of the media in terms of media ethics. Its news and information networkBianet provides daily coverage of the issues that are ignored in the mainstream media, especially about human rights, gender rights, minority rights and children rights issues. Bianet has also an English version.[14]
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Since 2011, theAKP government has increased restrictions on freedom of speech, freedom of the press and internet use,[52] and television content,[53] as well as the right to free assembly.[54] It has also developed links with media groups, and used administrative and legal measures (including, inone case, a billion tax fine[vague]) against critical media groups and critical journalists: "over the last decade the AKP has built an informal, powerful, coalition of party-affiliated businessmen and media outlets whose livelihoods depend on the political order that Erdogan is constructing. Those who resist do so at their own risk."[55]
These behaviours became particularly prominent in 2013 in the context of the Turkish media coverage of the2013 protests in Turkey. The BBC noted that while some outlets are aligned with the AKP or are personally close to Erdogan, "most mainstream media outlets - such as TV news channels HaberTurk and NTV, and the major centrist daily Milliyet - are loth to irritate the government because their owners' business interests at times rely on government support. All of these have tended to steer clear of covering the demonstrations."[56] Few channels provided live coverage – one that did wasHalk TV.[57]
During its 12-year rule, the rulingAKP has gradually expanded its control over media.[58] Today, numerous newspapers, TV channels and internet portals also dubbed asYandaş Medya ("Slanted Media") orHavuz Medyası ("Pool Media") continue their heavy pro-government propaganda.[59] Several media groups receive preferential treatment in exchange for AKP-friendly editorial policies.[60] Some of these media organizations were acquired by AKP-friendly businesses through questionable funds and processes.[61] Media not friendly to AKP, on the other hand, are threatened with intimidation, inspections and fines.[62] These media group owners face similar threats to their other businesses.[63] An increasing number of columnists have been fired for criticizing the AKP leadership.[64][65][66][67]
Leaked telephone calls between high ranking AKP officials and businessmen indicate that government officials collected money from businessmen in order to create a "pool media" that will supportAKP government at any cost.[68][69] Arbitrary tax penalties are assessed to force newspapers into bankruptcy—after which they emerge, owned by friends of the president. According to a recent investigation byBloomberg,[70] Erdogan forced a sale of the once independent daily Sabah to a consortium of businessmen led by his son-in-law.[71]
The state-runAnadolu Agency and theTurkish Radio and Television Corporation have also been criticized by media outlets and opposition parties, for acting more and more like a mouthpiece for the rulingAKP, a stance in stark violation of their requirement as public institutions to report and serve the public in an objective way.[72]
In the aftermath of the2016 coup attempt, all media outlets considered to have been linked to theGülen movement were shut down by the Turkish government. These include the newspapersZaman (formerly the highest-circulation paper in Turkey) andTaraf,Cihan News Agency,Samanyolu TV and numerous others. Later in the same year, some pro-Kurdish media outlets, such asIMC TV, were also shut down for allegedly supporting the PKK.
In the post-Tanzimat period French became a common language among educated people, even though no ethnic group in the empire natively spoke French.[73] Johann Strauss, author of "Language and power in the late Ottoman Empire," wrote that "In a way reminiscent of English in the contemporary world, French was almost omnipresent in the Ottoman lands."[74] Strauss also stated that French was "a sort of semi-official language",[75] which "to some extent" had "replaced Turkish as an 'official' language for non-Muslims".[76] Therefore, late empire had multiple French-language publications, and several continued to operate when the Republic of Turkey was declared in 1923. However French-language publications began to close in the 1930s.[77]
From 1923 onwards:
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TurkNet GigaFiber şu an için İstanbul, İzmir, Bursa, Ankara ve Kocaeli bölgelerinde bulunuyor.
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