Lawyer for Evrensel newspaper Devrim Avcı, Journalists’ Union of Turkey President Gökhan Durmuş and RSF Turkey Representative Erol Önderoğlu say journalists do not need a political authority to define the profession

HİKMET ADAL

The press card is the most basic object that identifies journalists as journalists. Unlike in countries with developed democracies, in Turkey this card is issued by the state instead of professional organizations.

According to statistics collected by SendikaData, there are currently 97,720 people employed in the “press, publishing and journalism” line of work in Turkey. According to a 3 May 2023 report by the Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS), 27,241 of those employed in this line of work are active in journalism.

Former Vice President Fuat Oktay announced in January 2023 that there were 17,618 journalists in Turkey who held press cards. However, according to another study published by the TGS, only a third of journalists (34.1 percent) hold a press card issued by the Presidential Directorate of Communications.

There are various reasons for the mismatched data. First of all, the press card is not only issued to journalists who are actively working. For example, people who complete 18 years in the profession are issued a “permanent press card.” Furthermore, public personnel employed in press and information may also obtain press cards.

Press cards not issued to all applying journalists

In Turkey, the press card is issued to journalists who meet the conditions outlined in the Press Card Regulation. The Press Card Regulation, as amended on 10 April 2023, identifies the following persons as being eligible for the press card:

a) Members of the media at media organizations active in Turkey who are Turkish citizens;

b) Owners of periodical publications or representatives of legal entities and the presidents of the boards of directors of radios and televisions;

c) Foreign members of the media who act on behalf of media organizations and whose field of responsibility covers Turkey and foreign members of the media who are temporarily in Turkey for reporting purposes although their field of responsibility does not cover Turkey;

d) Owners and employees of media organizations which publish or broadcast abroad who are Turkish citizens;

e) Members of the media who practice freelance journalism abroad who are Turkish citizens;

f) Public personnel employed in public institutions or organizations which provide services in the media field or in the information services of public institutions or organizations;

g) Administrators of unions and associations and foundations identified to be serving the public good, on the condition that they are active in the media field.

Devrim Avcı, lawyer for the Evrensel newspaper, which the Press Advertising Agency (BİK) has placed under an embargo by cutting public adverts and announcements, said that the expression “may be eligible” that is at the end of the article on who may be issued press cards makes it debatable whether the press card is issued to all journalists who apply for it.

This is because the general conditions for eligibility for the press card include the following articles:

* [The person] should not be limited or banned from enjoying public services;

* [The person] should not have been sentenced to five years or more of imprisonment for a willfully committed crime or convicted of any of the following crimes, although the period outlined in article 53 of the Turkish Penal Code may have expired: extortion, theft, forgery, fraud, misappropriation, false testimony, perjury, defamation, false reporting, obscenity, solicitation, fraudulent bankruptcy, embezzlement, giving and receiving bribes, smuggling, collusive tendering, fraud in the fulfillment of execution, laundering the proceeds of crime, and crimes against sexual inviolability, crimes against the public order, crimes against the constitutional order and the functioning of the said order, crimes against national defense, crimes against state secrets and espionage crimes;

* [The person] should not have been convicted of the terrorism crimes outlined in article 3 of the Counter-Terrorism Law, crimes committed for the purpose of terrorism outlined in article 4 of the said law and crimes outlined in article 6 of the said law; as well as convicted under article 54 of the Law on the Prevention of Financing of Terrorism;

* [The person] should not have been convicted of crimes outlined in paragraph 2 of article 25 of the Law on the Press;

* [The person] should be working under a contract drawn up in accordance with the provisions of the Law on the Regulation of Relations between Employees and Employers in the Journalism Profession and should have worked continuously with no interruption longer than a month except for cases of force majeure;

* [The person] should not be engaged in commercial activities other than media activities.

The Internet media is now covered, but problems remain

Avcı said that the Press Card Regulation has been amended a total of 15 times and two important changes were made under the AKP government. Avcı stated that the current version of the regulation was issued after the entering into force of the law on “disinformation” on 18 October 2022 and that Internet media employees now have official status with the new amendment.

Avcı criticized the Directorate of Communications, that is the state’s monopoly on issuing press cards, and said: “That the government should be in charge of the institution that issues press cards is an obstacle to critical reporting for journalists. It is not just about obtaining press cards, even concerns over potential trials lead to a covert form of censorship.”

Avcı also said that the press card should be issued by professional organizations and added: “It is clear how important it is for the fourth estate, that is the media, to keep its distance from the government when we look at the press in Turkey. Court cases against the opposition media, punishment by suspending public ads, denying journalists press cards are examples [of political pressure]. Therefore, press cards being issued by an independent, autonomous organization formed by the media’s own professional organizations is a practice that is worth considering for the purposes of press freedom as well as the neutrality of the press.”

Avcı emphasized that one of the other problematic aspects of the Press Card Regulation is that journalists who want to obtain a card need to meet the condition of “not having been sentenced for certain crimes” and added: “As a journalist working for the opposition press just doing their job can be a reason for a trial in press cases, this point need to be considered very carefully in practice. For journalists who are put on trial for their reporting, obtaining a press card becomes almost impossible.”

Actual service increment rate tied to press cards

Avcı said that press cards are not just necessary to identify journalists, but also for their social rights and gave the worker’s actual service increment rate as an example. Avcı said that the increment for journalists arising from the Law on Social Security was tied to the condition of holding a press card. This condition was annulled by the Constitutional Court, but the government then brought back the same practice in a new regulation.

Avcı pointed out that the relevant judgment of the Constitutional Court identifies the following: “The identification of those press card holders who are to benefit from the actual service increment is only done through the Press Card Regulation. This means that the necessary conditions to obtain a press card and therefore the fundamental basis and principles for identifying those working in the press and journalism profession who will benefit from the increment was not established by law, but the power of regulating this issue was turned over completely to the executive branch through the regulation. It is not adequate to require the condition of being a press card holder for those actively working in the press and journalism profession to benefit from the active service increment, as is the case in the Press Card Regulation. Due to the said regulation which results in a limitation to the right to social security, in order to realize the condition of legality, the fundamental principles which identify the qualities of the press card, how it is to be issued and the conditions people should meet to obtain the card should be openly stated in the law in a way to prevent arbitrary interventions against this right. That the law allows for a limitation to the right to social security through the said rule without the identification of the fundamental principles and the legal framework in the law is in violation of the Constitutional provision that fundamental rights may only be limited through the law.”

Avcı stated that the current situation was discriminatory against journalists who do not hold a press card and said that the government does not want to furnish more democratic grounds for the issue. “The press card allows the government a means of political control over the press. This and similar practices hang over opposition media which are critical of the government as an element of pressure. While pro-government press organizations receive all sorts of support, the opposition press and journalists face discriminatory practices through the cases filed against them, withholding the press card and the non-recognition of their right to active service increment despite working in the press sector.”

Avcı said that the press card has today become a political object and gave the following example: “The Directorate of Communications has not issued [new] press cards for journalists working for Evrensel, although they had press cards before. It has been delaying our applications for four years. It does not respond to our enquiries. A reporter who filed a court case and won has not received their press card for a year. I don’t know if any other newspapers are in a similar situation, but for Evrensel it has become a political object.”

Durmuş: Professional organizations should issue press cards, not the state

Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS) President Gökhan Durmuş voiced views similar to those of Devrim Avcı. Durmuş argued that not just the Press Card Regulation, but the entire system founded on press cards is problematic: “For one thing, despite not being an official identification document, the turquoise press card affects a broad field ranging from the active service increment that is a social security right of journalists, to the right of the organization they work for being allowed to publish public ads and announcements. Therefore, despite it not being mandatory, journalists are actually forced to obtain press cards. The system has been established arbitrarily under the monopoly of the Directorate of Communications and the BİK. Under the current structure the Directorate of Communications issues cards, withholds them and cancels them on a person by person basis. This affects the right of the media organization for which the journalist works to publish public adverts and announcements. The regulation is full of uncertainties like this.”

Durmuş continued: “For example, a holder’s press card may be cancelled due to actions in breach of the Press Ethics Code. However, both the sanctions and the content of these principles have been completely left up to the Press Card Commission. The current situation results in significant uncertainty and unlimited power. Indeed, that article 49 of the Law 195 which grants the power to regulate the Press Ethics Code lends unclearly demarcated powers to the Press Advertising Agency was identified by the Constitutional Court when it ruled on an individual application. Now the same regulation has been brought before the Constitutional Court by a civil court with a request for its annulment. We hope a lawful ruling will be issued. The cases we have filed against the Press Card Regulation, the Public Advertisement Regulation and the Press Ethics Code with the Council of State are also underway.”

“We come across it in courtrooms”

Durmuş said that journalists do not need a political authority to define their profession and added that press cards should be issued by an independent commission to be formed by professional organizations instead of a state institution.

In support of this argument, Durmuş pointed out that the current system is fully in the control of the government: “This being the case, it is inevitable that the press card becomes a political object. Especially during the transfer of the responsibility for the Press Card Commission from the Directorate-General of Press, Publications and Information to the Directorate of Communications during the 2018 transition to the presidential government system, the applications of many journalists were delayed for 4-5 years with no explanation. In the cases we have filed, the Directorate of Communications has not provided any acceptable grounds. The press cards of journalists who worked even for a while in organizations which were shut down by statutory decrees in 2016 are rejected out of hand. They insist on not issuing them.”

Durmuş pointed out that especially high criminal courts in Diyarbakır and Van displayed a tendency to opine that people without press cards could not be considered journalists in court cases and said: “However, the press card is not a compulsory form of identification and this is a point that the Directorate of Communications itself accepts. Fortunately, as a result of our reaction these decisions were taken back. This shows that the ideological perspective on the press cards and the system that is government-centered aim to establish a system under which the government decides who is a journalist and who is not.”

Önderoğlu: The media functions under the control of the state, not the profession

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Turkey representative Erol Önderoğlu agreed with Avcı and Durmuş. However, Önderoğlu thinks that the written conditions of the regulation do not present the greatest problem.

Önderoğlu argued that the greatest setback is the authorization of the Directorate of Communications which is affiliated with the Office of the President. He also agrees with Durmuş and Avcı that there should be a Press Card Commission on which professional organizations are represented. “Under democratic institution building, issuing press cards and managing the relevant processes might be entrusted to a Press Cards Commission in which professional organizations are represented. When issues such as security arise, relevant public institutions may of course warn the commission. However, under the presidential government system and its sub-model, the media sector functions under the control of the state or the governing party and not the profession.”

Önderoğlu gave the following examples: “In the last three years, many journalists, including Mustafa Sönmez, Nadire Mater, Tuğrul Eryılmaz, Birkan Bulut, Kazım Güleçyüz and Berkant Gültekin won the cases they filed with administrative courts over unlawful cancellations, arbitrary refusals and delaying applications. Some journalists, such as Gökçer Tahincioğlu and Alican Uludağ experienced various difficulties. However, we don’t know how these rulings have shaped the administration since, whether they have motivated it to learn from its mistakes. If you work to deliver the news to the public, applying for a press card, which is a fundamental right, should not make you feel fed up and like giving up. However, the exclusionary practice of the administration has unfortunately made many people give up.”

Avcı, Durmuş and Önderoğlu all agree that journalists do not need a political authority to define their profession. They argue that this is in keeping with the nature of the freedom of the press.