Over the past ten years, Turkey’s press freedom has suffered severe setbacks under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, according to a report published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Saturday. Since Erdoğan became president in 2014, five journalists have been killed, 131 have been detained and 77 convicted of “insulting the president”. The report highlights the erosion of media pluralism and the use of judicial harassment as tools to silence dissent.
Erdoğan, who won a third term in May 2023, has systematically tightened his grip on the media. More than 85% of national media outlets are now controlled by companies with ties to the government, effectively stifling independent journalism. This control extends to public broadcasters, such as the Radio and Television Institution of Turkey (TRT) and the National Broadcasting Council of Turkey (RTÜK), and has been instrumental in securing Erdoğan’s electoral victories.
Erol Önderoğlu, RSF’s representative in Turkey, warned that “Independent journalism is now clearly in danger of extinction as a result of this oppressive decade.” He called for urgent reforms to protect press freedom and ensure the right to information, without which “the rule of law cannot exist”.
The crackdown on journalists began even before Erdoğan’s presidency. During the Gezi Park protests in 2013, more than 150 journalists were attacked by police with impunity, setting a precedent for the repression that followed. Since then, arrests, trials and the closure of media outlets have become common tools used by the government to prevent coverage of its authoritarian practices, corruption and repression of the Kurdish population.
Turkey became the world’s largest jailer of journalists in 2018, following the failed coup attempt in 2016. Mass arrests targeted media personnel from various outlets, including Kurdish media outlets such as the Özgür Gündem newspaper and Mezopotamya Agency. Although the number of detained journalists has decreased, judicial harassment remains rampant.
Erdoğan’s administration has also extended its reach beyond Turkey’s borders, targeting exiled journalists like Can Dündar, the former editor-in-chief of the Cumhuriyet newspaper, who was sentenced in absentia to over 27 years in prison for reporting on Turkish arms shipments to jihadist groups in Syria. Dündar fled the country after being directly threatened by Erdoğan, who vowed that “the person who wrote this exclusive article will pay dearly”.
Social media platforms have not escaped Erdoğan’s crackdown. Instagram, Wikipedia and Twitter have all been blocked at various times, with the government using broad laws to justify censorship. Instagram was recently blocked after limiting access to Erdoğan’s condolence messages following the death of Hamas leader İsmail Haniyeh.
Turkey’s ranking in the World Press Freedom Index has fallen during Erdoğan’s presidency, from 154th place in 2014 to 158th in 2024.
