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The AKP and the Kemalist News Media

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The Securitisation of News in Turkey

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Abstract

The chapter examines the contemporary situation regarding news media freedom in Turkey and how it relates to the AKP’s relationship with the Kemalist establishment. It argues that, once the AKP acquired power in 2002, and won a second term in 2007, it set about trying to “defang” the military through the Ergenekon (ETÖ) investigations (with the help of allies, the Gülen movement). The military were the primary target, although several senior journalists were included and many more were persecuted, if not prosecuted, for reporting the main Ergenekon trials. However, whilst most journalists caught up in Ergenekon were there as an afterthought, this had changed by 2015, when Cumhuriyet was under the AKP spotlight. At this time, the intention was to stymie journalism about AKP policy (such as its alleged links to jihadism in Syria) which could damage the AKP’s electoral prospects and continuing consolidation of power. Journalism therefore had moved from being a secondary target to a primary one alongside increasing authoritarianism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Agence France Presse, 16 January 2003, Turkish MPs drop plan to pardon veiled university students.

  2. 2.

    Agence France Presse, 23 April 2003, Turkey’s secular elite clash with government on Islamic-style headscarves.

  3. 3.

    Agence France Presse, 29 October 2003, Islamic headscarf row overshadows Turkey’s 80th birthday.

  4. 4.

    Agence France Presse, 29 May 2004, Turkish president vetoes controversial bill on religious schools.

  5. 5.

    Agence France Presse, 31 August 2004, Turkish parliament to discuss outlawing adultery.

  6. 6.

    Agence France Presse, 12 December 2005, Turkish lawyers challenge alcohol restrictions.

  7. 7.

    Agence France Presse, 26 June 2003, Turkish leaders vow to push ahead with reforms.

  8. 8.

    Associated Press, 1 August 2006, Turkey appoints general considered hard-liner as new head of military.

  9. 9.

    Agence France Press, 27 April 2007, Harsh army warning over secularism hits Turkish presidential vote.

  10. 10.

    Associated Press International, 23 July 2007, Turkey’s ruling party wins election.

  11. 11.

    Agence France Presse, 14 March 2008, Turkish prosecutors seek to ban ruling party.

  12. 12.

    Agence France Press, 30 July 2007, Turkey’s ruling party escapes ban, gets sanctions.

  13. 13.

    Agence France Presse, 15 March 2008, Turkey’s ruling party hits back at bid to ban it.

  14. 14.

    Agence France Presse, 16 May 2006, Suspected Islamist gunman kills Turkish judge in court shooting.

  15. 15.

    Agence France Presse, 13 July 2006, Turkish army officers, policemen accused of anti-government plot.

  16. 16.

    Agence France Presse, 16 June 2007, Three arrested in Turkey over ammunition cache.

  17. 17.

    Cumhuriyet is a staunchly Kemalist broadsheet newspaper.

  18. 18.

    Agence France Presse, 1 July 2008, Ex-generals, journalists detained in Turkish probe: Report.

  19. 19.

    Agence France Presse, 14 July 2008, Turkish prosecutor charges 86 over alleged coup plot.

  20. 20.

    Agence France Presse, 19 January 2007, Prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist shot dead in Istanbul.

  21. 21.

    Eurasianet News Agency, 2 July 2008, Turkey: Arrests, court case reveal that Turkey is dangerously polarized.

  22. 22.

    Balyoz is also known by the English translation of “Sledgehammer”.

  23. 23.

    Other Ergenekon associated plots include Kafes (Cage) Sarıkız (Blonde Girl), Ayışığı (Moonlight), Yakamoz (Sea Sparkle) and Eldiven (Glove).

  24. 24.

    Agence France Presse, 16 December 2010, Landmark coup trial opens in Turkey.

  25. 25.

    Agence France Presse, 21 September 2012, Three ex-generals jailed for 20 years in Turkey coup trial.

  26. 26.

    Pinar Doğan is the daughter of a Balyoz defendant General Cetin Doğan.

  27. 27.

    Pinar Doğan and Dani Rodrik, New Republic, 24 May 2010, Turkey’s Other Dirty War. http://drodrik.scholar.harvard.edu/files/dani-rodrik/files/turkeys-other-dirty-war.pdf. See also Dani Rodrik’s blog “What is going on in Turkey?” 23 May 2010. https://rodrik.typepad.com/dani_rodriks_weblog/2010/05/what-is-going-on-in-turkey.html.

  28. 28.

    Agence France Presse, 5 August 2013, Turkey court sentences ex-army chief to life in mass coup trial.

  29. 29.

    Hanefi Avcı’s book is called Haliç’te Yaşayan Simonlar: Dün Devlet Bugün Cemaat (Yesterday a state: Today a community) and Ahmet Şık’s is İmamın Ordusu (The Imam’s Army).

  30. 30.

    Avcı, who had previously been a Gülen sympathiser, was subsequently charged with connections to a far-left terrorist group and with being part of the Ergenekon network (Jenkins 2014).

  31. 31.

    Financial Times, 18 December 2013, Turkey transfers 32 police chiefs in high profile corruption case.

  32. 32.

    Agence France Presse, 10 March 2014, Three more released in Turkish coup plot trial.

  33. 33.

    Agence France Presse, 31 March 2015, Turkish court acquits all 236 suspects in coup plot retrial. See also Jenkins (2014).

  34. 34.

    The Justice and Development Party—the English translation of the AKP.

  35. 35.

    Agence France Presse, 14 July 2008. Turkish prosecutor charges 86 over alleged coup plot.

  36. 36.

    For a detailed list see https://rsf.org/en/news/number-journalists-convicted-ergenekon-trial-rises-20.

  37. 37.

    Erdoğan’s son-in-law, Berat Albayrak, was a business associate of Ahmet Çalik.

  38. 38.

    Cumhuriyet means “republic” in Turkish.

  39. 39.

    Agence France Presse, 5 June 2015, Turkey daily accuses authorities of smuggling jihadists to Syria.

  40. 40.

    Agence France Presse, 1 June 2015, Turkey’s Erdoğan threatens daily over Syria arms video.

  41. 41.

    Agence France Presse, 6 May 2016, Turkey journalist Dündar escapes shooting, attacker held.

  42. 42.

    Agence France Presse, 21 September 2016, Turkey opposition journalists on trial again over ‘Gülen links’.

  43. 43.

    Agence France Presse, 25 April 2018, Turkey hands jail sentences to journalists.

  44. 44.

    Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 8 September 2018, Chief editor of influential Turkish daily sacked by management board.

  45. 45.

    Agence France Presse, 11 November 2016, Turkey arrests head of opposition newspaper.

  46. 46.

    Agence France Presse, 30 December 2016, Turkey charges journalist with ‘terror propaganda’: Report.

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  1. Department of Politics and IR, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

    Dr. Natalie Martin

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Martin, N. (2020). The AKP and the Kemalist News Media. In: The Securitisation of News in Turkey. The Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49381-3_4

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