Abstract
This chapter will examine how the dire state of news media freedom in contemporary Turkey intersects with the Kurdish issue. It starts with the initial optimism of AKP’s relationship with the Kurds, which was hailed as a new beginning based on religious kindred and a mutual distrust of the Kemalist establishment. However, this changed once the Kurdish mainstream political parties began to be a threat to ongoing AKP power. The subsequent KCK investigations were aimed at quelling the nascent grassroots Kurdish movement before it gained momentum. Journalism was included with the KCK operation but it was not the government’s primary target and instead was included more as a deterrent to the reporting of wider KCK illiberality. However, more recent persecution of Kurdish journalists has securitised journalism as “terrorism” in order to delegitimise its message and that of the Kurdish movement as a whole, particularly the HDP. Accordingly, any reporting of the Kurdish issue has been deemed to be in favour of political violence—rather than merely about it.
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Notes
- 1.
The majority at that time were Gülenist affiliates.
- 2.
The decision was due to be taken at the European Council summit in Brussels in December 2004.
- 3.
Ocalan is also known as “Apo” (uncle in Kurdish).
- 4.
Öcalan was imprisoned in 1999.
- 5.
Who was also involved in the Oslo peace talks (Kadioglu 2019, p. 923).
- 6.
Agence France Presse, 21 October 2009, Kurd rebels receive hero’s welcome, Turkish govt under fire.
- 7.
Agence France Presse, 11 December 2009, Turkey’s top court bans Kurdish party: Official.
- 8.
Comment by Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher, Human Rights Watch, Istanbul. Reported in ICG 2014.
- 9.
United Press International, 25 December 2009, Kurdish Politicians detained in Turkey.
- 10.
BBC Monitoring, 13 February 2010, Turkey: More than 80 Kurdish activists detained ahead of anniversary (Text of report by Turkish privately owned NTV television’s NTV Online).
- 11.
Agence France Presse, 18 October 2010, Around 150 Kurds in court in Turkey trial over rebel links.
- 12.
Agence France Presse, 20 December 2011, Turkey arrests AFP photographer over suspected rebel links.
- 13.
Agence France Presse, 23 December 2011, Media watchdog condemns Turkey arrest of reporters.
- 14.
Agence France Presse, 27 March 2014, Turkey frees 45 pending trial over Kurdish rebel ties. See also Chapter 6.
- 15.
Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı—National Intelligence Agency.
- 16.
Although contact had probably been established as early as 2006 (see Kadioglu 2019).
- 17.
Toktamiş attributes the leak to the Gülen movement, Cemaat.
- 18.
Agence France Presse, 7 December 2013, Clashes in Turkey after deaths of two Kurdish protesters; Agence France Presse, 7 June 2014, Kurdish protester killed in clashes with Turkey soldiers; Agence France Presse, 19 August 2014, Kurdish protester killed in Turkey clashes over PKK statue.
- 19.
Agence France Presse, 22 September 2014, More than 130,000 Syrian Kurds flee to Turkey.
- 20.
Agence France Presse, 9 October 2014, Erdoğan denounces Turkey protests as peace process ‘sabotage’.
- 21.
Anatolia News Agency, 4 October 2014, Turkish President: PKK, ISIL same for Turkey.
- 22.
The BDP and HDP are connected and existed in parallel for some of this time. For an explanation see Grigoriadis and Dilek (2018).
- 23.
Agence France Presse, 8 June 2015, Turkey ruling party weighs options after election blow.
- 24.
This was significant as it stopped Erdoğan from being able to pass his constitutional changes towards an executive presidency unopposed.
- 25.
Agence France Presse, 25 August 2015, Turkey to vote on Nov 1, PM to form caretaker government.
- 26.
Agence France Presse, 1 November 2015, Joy and anguish greet AKP win in Turkey vote.
- 27.
Agence France Presse, 20 July 2015, Suicide bomber kills 31 in Turkey attack blamed on IS.
- 28.
Agence France Presse, 21 July 2015, Shocked Turkey steps up security after deadly border attack.
- 29.
Agence France Presse, 22 July 2015, PKK claims killing Turkish police to avenge ‘IS bombing’.
- 30.
Agence France Presse, 25 July 2015, Turkey strikes on Kurdish bases in Iraq puts truce in danger.
- 31.
Agence France Presse, 27 July 2015, PKK ‘never respected’ peace process: Turkey.
- 32.
Agence France Presse, 8 October 2014, At least 14 dead as protests rage in Turkey over Kobane.
- 33.
Agence France Presse, 12 August 2015, Erdoğan vows no let-up in fight against Kurdish rebels.
- 34.
Agence France Presse, 10 September 2015, Turkey blocks pro-Kurdish MPs from curfew city after deadly fighting.
- 35.
CNN Wire, 15 October 2015, Ankara bombings: Prime Minister says online probes point to ISIS, PKK.
- 36.
Agence France Presse, 2 January 2016, Erdoğan backs criminal probe against Kurdish party chiefs’.
- 37.
Agence France Presse, 7 December 2017, Trial begins of pro-Kurdish leader in Turkey on ‘terror’ links.
- 38.
Agence France Presse, 13 September 2015, Cizre residents bury dead after Turkey army curfew.
- 39.
It should be noted that Hanrahan and Pendlebury’s local “fixer”, Mohammed Rasool, was not released until January 2016.
- 40.
Agence France Press, 16 March 2016, Turkey president steps up bid to prosecute pro-Kurd MPs.
- 41.
Reuters News Agency, 21 December 2011, Rights groups condemn arrests of Turkish journalists.
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Martin, N. (2020). The AKP and the Kurdish 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_5
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