content was a priori unknown, had a preventive effect on the
professional activities of journalists and amounted to censorship.
50
of allowing the exercise of this right upon demand, the government a priori identified which languages merited to benefit from the law. The selected minority languages were the
Zaza and Kırmançi dialects of the Kurdish
language, Circassian, Bosnian and Arabic. The duration, scope and nature of broadcasting in these minority languages were not specified in the laws, but were left to the discretion of RTÜK.
Regulations adopted by RTÜK further restric- ted the already limited and conditional rights granted by parliament. The 2002 regulation established direct state control over broadcas- ting, prohibited children’s programming and the teaching of minority languages, imposed significant time restrictions on broadcasting in minority languages, subjected broadcasting to rigid bureaucratic control, required simultane- ous and subsequent translation into Turkish for TV and radio programs, respectively, and prohibited broadcasting in violation of national security, general morality and the indivisible territorial and national integrity of the state.83 The 2004 regulation allowed
private broadcasting in minority languages at the national level for the first time, but again subject to strict time limitations and much red tape. Local and regional broadcasters were required to submit an audience profile to RTÜK in order to receive permits.
In an attempt to address criticisms regarding the incompatibility of these restrictions with freedom of the press, RTÜK adopted a further regulation in November 2009 which lifted the time restrictions for private broadcasters and allowed for 24-hour broadcasting in languages other than Turkish. The regulation also
83 D. Kurban, A Quest for Equality: Minorities in
Turkey, Minority Rights Group International
(2007), p. 17.
3.3.3. Cultural and Political Pluralism
in the Media
Until recently, broadcasting in languages other than Turkish was prohibited in Turkey, excepti- on being made for Armenian, Greek and Hebrew – mother tongues of groups granted minority status under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. The Treaty grants not only non- Muslim minorities, but all citizens the right to use “any language … in the press, or in
publications of any kind”. However, Turkey has, until recently, never allowed any minority group other than the three Lausanne minoriti- es to exercise this right. One of the impacts the EU accession process has had on the media in Turkey was the lifting of this ban and the subsequent room for public and private radio and TV broadcasting to enter the field at the local and national level.
The 2002 and 2003 amendments to the Broadcasting Law effectively paved the way for broadcasting in minority languages, without explicitly identifying the purpose of the reforms to be as such.81 Broadcasting was
allowed in “the different languages and dialects used traditionally by Turkish citizens in their daily lives”82 with the caveat that such
broadcasts shall not contradict the constituti- on and “the indivisible integrity of the state with its territory and nation.” However, the right to broadcast was not granted to all minority languages spoken in Turkey. Instead
81 The scope of the right was gradually expanded through a series of laws. Initially, the reforms were limited to public broadcasting in minority languages but were gradually expanded over time to extend to private broadcasting.
82 For a problematization of this phrase, see D. Kurban, “Confronting Equality: The Need for Constitutional Protection of Minorities on Turkey’s Path to the European Union,” 35
Columbia Human Rights Law Review (2003),
51
framework for a pluralist media, minority media in Turkey continues to be subject to the blockade of the state, the mainstream media and the judiciary. Surveillance by the military and the state as well as harassment by the statist and nationalist mainstream media often leads to a degree of self-censorship in the minority media, which withdraws from political debates for fear of persecution. Those who nonetheless ‘dare’ to report on sensitive political issues face prosecution by the courts. In 2010, for example, the Kurdish newspaper
Azadiya Welat based in Diyarbakır was banned
by the judiciary several times and its journa- lists were prosecuted on charges of terrorism.
3.3.4. Obstacles to Media Freedom
and Impartiality in Turkey
The independence and impartiality of the media in Turkey are curtailed by political pressure coming from multiple actors, from both within and without the media. As explained earlier, the historical development of the state-media relationship since the late years of the Ottoman Empire has left a lasting legacy in the political culture of the country. The mainstream media has traditionally positioned itself in ideological, economic and political proximity to power structures, and has failed to develop a presence independent from the state. While the subject of political pressure on the media has in most cases been the armed forces, at times of transition where civilians have gained relative power and independence vis-á-vis the army, the agent of pressure has become the elected government. A third principal external actor that imposed removed the subtitle/simultaneous translation
requirement as well as the prohibitions on children’s and language-instruction program- ming. These improvements resulted in the increase in the number of radio stations and TV channels broadcasting in minority
languages.84 To be able to monitor these
broadcasters’ compliance with the law, RTÜK recruited new Kırmançi and Zaza-speaking staff members (the prevalent Kurdish langua- ges spoken in Turkey). However, RTÜK’s receiving support from local police in underta- king this monitoring activity is grounds for con- cern.
On 7 June 2004, TRT commenced broadcasting in the five permitted languages. Television bro- adcasts are 45 minutes per day five days a week, while radio broadcasts last 30 minutes each day, five days a week. The content and time restrictions imposed on broadcasting, the red tape imposed on local broadcasters and the outdated content of programs have been criticised by minorities. They perceive the reforms as an attempt by the government to deceive the international community by creating a false impression about the protecti- on of minority media in Turkey. On 1 January 2009, 24-hour public broadcasting in Kurdish commenced, followed by the launch in April 2009 of public broadcasting in Armenian.85
While TRT has 6 exclusively Kurdish broad- casts every 24 hours, broadcasting in Armeni- an is limited to a total of one hour per day. Notwithstanding this significant yet limited progress in establishing the regulatory
84 So far, 14 radio stations and TV channels have been given authorization to broadcast in Kurdish and Arabic. European Commission, Turkey 2010
Progress Report, p. 32-33.
85 The daily broadcasting in Armenian takes place between 07.30-08.00 and 18.00-18.30 at TRT’s Voice of Turkey Radio.