European Voice
March 7 2009

ErdoÄ?an vs. the media

By David Dadge
07.03.2009 / 07:00 CET

In a country where journalists’ blood has been spilt, Turkey’s prime
minister animus towards the media risks creating tragedies.
A Turkish leader’s visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos would
normally not be a headline-grabbing affair. But when Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an stormed out of a discussion on Gaza,
leaving a stunned Israeli president and other panellists in the dust,
there was a blitz of international coverage and flattering media
attention at home.

The political theatre, and the hero’s welcome ErdoÄ?an received
back in Istanbul, may in part reflect the growing unease amongst
Turkey’s Muslim population about the country’s good relations with
Israel after its most recent offensive in Gaza.

But it also showed a side of the charismatic leader that many Turkish
journalists have come to know ` a politician who is prone to using the
public arena to vent his anger. He blasted the international news
organisations for a pro-Israel bias in their reporting on recent
events in Gaza, and for months he has used his political pulpit to
target journalists at home.

The crowd turned on journalists, attacking them in front of the prime
minister who did little to intervene.
If these were the casual remarks of a politician unhappy with the news
coverage he receives, they would be unremarkable. But in
ErdoÄ?an’s case, there has been a rising tempo of verbal
attacks, and he has urged his supporters to boycott media that are
deemed too critical. If you cannot silence the press, at least hit
them where it hurts, the rationale appears to be.

He has also not refrained from criticising outsiders. Just days before
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s scheduled visit this week,
ErdoÄ?an denounced a new State Department report on human rights
that raised concerns about numerous legal barriers to free expression
in Turkey, including those that criminalise insults to the state.

The US State Department, like many press freedom and human-rights
groups, question why Article 301 ` the notorious `Turkishness’ law
that has been used to charge journalists, writers and intellectuals `
remains on the books. It was watered down last year but remains a
weapon against free expression. (One prominent Turkish-Armenian
journalist convicted under this law, Hrant Dink, was murdered in 2007
by self-described ultranationalists, who are currently on trial.)
ErdoÄ?an has also publicly denounced the International Press
Institute, which is directed by the author of this article, for
imploring him to stop threatening media about their reporting.

The risks of a national leader attempting to incite public antipathy
to the press became apparent in January, one day after the incident in
Davos. The prime minister used something as benign as a ribbon-cutting
ceremony for a new Istanbul underground station as a platform to blast
reporters. A brief confrontation broke out during his speech, and as
news photographers homed in to get footage, the crowd turned on
journalists, attacking them in front of the prime minister who,
according to eyewitness accounts, did little to intervene.

Despite this incident, the prime minister’s criticism of journalists
has continued on the campaign trail as he canvasses the country in
advance of the 29 March municipal elections.

ErdoÄ?an’s anti-media campaign seems to stem from reports that
have linked him to a Turkish charity, Deniz Feneri, whose managers
were tried in Germany last year on charges of defrauding donors of
?¬16 million. The prime minister has denied any connection to
the charity, and German prosecutors have also said there was nothing
linking the defendants to ErdoÄ?an.

But he has lashed out at the country’s largest media company, the
Dogan Media Group, demanding that its editors reveal their motives for
reporting on the charity scandal. On several occasions, the prime
minister has urged his supporters to stop buying papers that, as he
told one rally, `stand by others, rather than stand by the prime
minister of the Turkish Republic’. There were also other troubling
actions. In December, the prime minister’s office refused to renew
press credentials for several long-time political reporters.

Then in February, Turkey’s finance ministry fined Dogan an
unprecedented ?¬380 million (826 million Turkish lira) for tax
evasion related to sales of foreign assets. While the Turkish
authorities insist that the fine had nothing to do with
ErdoÄ?an’s criticism of Dogan’s news coverage, the timing `
after months of criticism from the prime minister ` only raises the
spectre of a politically motivated campaign to bring the media company
to its knees.

The prime minister’s outbursts against the press are odd for a man who
himself was once unjustly banned from political office because of his
religious views. They also defy the laudable reforms he has shepherded
through parliament since he came to power in 2002, and his push to put
Turkish law in sync with the European Union.

ErdoÄ?an’s campaign against the media sends a message that they
are fair game for bullying and boycotts. But it also carries grave
risks for journalists. Questioning the media’s loyalty is dangerous in
a country where some individuals have already used perceived affronts
to `Turkishness’ as an excuse to commit violence and, in Dink’s case,
murder. The prime minister needs to step back. If he does not, this is
one piece of political theatre that risks moving from drama to
tragedy.

David Dadge is director of the International Press Institute, a
Vienna-based press-freedom organisation.

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