The terrestrial broadcast of Açık Radyo, which began broadcasting on 13 November 1995, was discontinued on 16 October 2024 by RTÜK’s decision. Having begun online broadcasting this month, Apaçık Radyo has the maturity of 30 years of experience and the hope of a newborn

MELTEM AKYOL

On 13 November 1995, the Istanbul-based independent radio station Açık Radyo (the Open Radio) began broadcasting with the words “Hello universe.” For 29 years and 11 months, Açık Radyo was open to “all sounds, colors and vibrations of the universe.”

Throughout 59 broadcasting seasons, 1,416 programmers -- all volunteers -- produced 1,219 different programs on Açık Radyo. The channel hosted approximately 26,000 activists, writers and thinkers from Turkey and around the world. The programs led to the publication of 29 books.

The weekly program “Açık Gazete” (Open Newspaper) was on air as usual on 24 April 2024. A guest on the show used the expression “Armenian genocide.” That is when the trouble began.

The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) issued the maximum administrative fine and a five-day program broadcasting suspension penalty to Açık Radyo on grounds that the expressions used had violated article 8 of the Law No. 6112. According to RTÜK, the guest had “provoked the people to hatred and enmity.” The radio was notified of the penalties electronically. The radio could access all the details about the fine and paid its first installment. It waited for the dates for suspension of programming, which was the second component of the penalty. These details were enclosed in the inaccessible part of the electronic notice and the broadcast was not suspended as they could not be viewed.

Quickly noticing the situation, the radio applied to RTÜK for new dates for the implementation of the penalty. Meanwhile, it also applied to the court to stay the execution of the RTÜK decision. The court finally stayed the execution and RTÜK’s appeal to a higher court was rejected.

Strangely enough, the court which had stayed the execution of the order reexamined the case two months later and annulled its own decision to stay the execution. Immediately afterwards, RTÜK notified the radio of its decision to revoke its license due to not abiding by the suspension of broadcast penalty. Consequently, Açık Radyo’s terrestrial broadcast and the linked internet broadcast ended at 13:00 on 16 October 2024, with founder Ömer Madra announcing “So, we’re shutting down” in a shaky voice. The station has now been shut down for 59 days.

Turning 30 with suspension of license

This week marked the anniversary of the first broadcast of Açık Radyo and the station turned 30 without a broadcast license. This is undoubtedly not the first form of pressure the station has ever faced, but it is the severest. Looking back, in September 2000, Açık Radyo’s broadcast was shut down for 15 days by RTÜK for broadcasting Charles Bukowski’s short story The Most Beautiful Woman in Town. At the time, the broadcast was suspended on grounds of “violation of general morality, public peace and the Turkish family structure.”

Back then the radio made it through the suspension of its broadcast with the John Cage song 4’33”. The radio shut down after announcing a “15-day variation” of this piece and played Ayılana gazoz, bayılana limon once it was back on air. Meanwhile the court had ruled in favor of Açık Radyo in the case that was filed, but not until after the radio could not broadcast for 15 days.

İlhan Taşcı: “RTÜK could have considered the broadcaster’s goodwill”

Was RTÜK waiting for an opportunity? Could things not have turned out differently? To answer this question, we spoke with RTÜK member İlhan Taşcı. Taşcı said that it was shameful for Açık Radyo to turn 30 with its license revoked and added: “The term ‘license revocation’ might not make it clear, but this radio station has been shut down. This is very severe. To think that a broadcaster would knowingly abide by one of the two penalties issued by a public authority but not the other is question begging. That the broadcaster had paid the administrative fine should have been taken as a statement that it would abide by the penalty. The board should have considered the possibility of a technical issue or lack of information and should have decided in the favor of the broadcaster. This would have been the sound and correct course. This is what should have happened, morally and legally speaking.”

Açık Radyo is not the first victim of the restriction of the freedom of expression by RTÜK. And clearly, it would not be the last. RTÜK has shifted gears since President Erdoğan said “Our media is deaf to our voice” on 19 October 2020. Since then, administrative fines have often been accompanied by suspension of broadcast penalties. A fair summary of the situation we are in might go as follows: Until 35 years ago, Turkey had a single broadcaster. Today RTÜK regulates some 1,500 radio and television channels. However, not many different voices are desired of the many channels. That Açık Radyo was not broadcasting on its 30th anniversary is an indicator of this approach.

Amidst the “fog of war”

Açık Radyo programmer Özdeş Özbay takes an even wider perspective. Özbay, who has presented the program “Açık Gazete” along with Ömer Madra since 1 February 2020, says that he sees connections between the radio being shut down with the worldwide rise of the far right and therefore the “siege against the truth.” Özbay, who is also a climate activist, says: “Today Russia is invading Ukraine and Israel is waging a genocidal war in Gaza. When Putin launched his invasion, he said, ‘Ukraine is run by Nazis’; yet the Ukrainian president is Jewish. Netanyahu said, ‘the greatest attack since the Holocaust’ about Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023 and called Hamas members ‘Nazis.’ We have a global ecological crisis and people who deny the crisis. In short there is a war, a propaganda war against the truth. Ömer Madra calls it the ‘fog of war.’ In this atmosphere, publishers and broadcasters who speak the truth, who criticize the government and state of their own country are under pressure everywhere. The current bill on ‘agents of influence,’ blocking of access to websites, the law on disinformation in Turkey are not independent of this. The shutting down of our radio station is a part of this process. But we will continue from where we left off to speak of the facts as we know them, in line with the principles we have always stood by.”

Water will find its course

Of course, it is clear that the experience Açık Radyo has accumulated and its influence on society cannot be silenced. As Hrant Dink said, “water will find its course,” and it has. “There is a place these days that is “throbbing” -- an internet radio that is “open to all sounds, colors and vibrations of the universe.” It is called the “Apaçık” Radyo. Apaçık Radyo began test broadcasts on 8 November and the studio went live again in the morning of Monday, 11 November. It started with the same enthusiasm as 30 years ago, when the launch of Açık Radyo was announced as the biggest news in the universe, accompanied by the song Kendim ettim kendim buldum by Neşet Ertaş.

We got to speak with İlksen Mavituna, a part of the Açık Radyo family since 2005, in a complicated, exciting and busy interval. Mavituna said they wanted to expand the 30 years of experience of Açık Radyo to new media and younger generations and continued: “The first day of the shutdown, when we said, ‘Açık Radyo cannot be silenced,’ we weren’t talking about anything technical. There’s really no need to lose hope over that. As we approach the anniversary on 13 November, the new ‘Apaçık Radyo’ format, through which all that has been accumulated by Açık Radyo will be made accessible again by the Açık Radyo team and volunteer programmers will be the grounds and means for the realization of our dreams for our 30th anniversary. In short, I can say that we continue with our work much invigorated by the greatest interest in and solidarity with us.”

Risk of losing broadcasting frequency

Açık Radyo’s existence does not depend on the broadcasting license alone. However, the termination of the license, or, as İlhan Taşcı put it, the decision to shut down the station, carries with it the risk of completely losing the broadcasting medium beyond the suspension of broadcasts.

Mavituna explains the risk as follows: “The FM bandwidth in Istanbul has problems, it is congested. As you might know, there are hundreds of stations. There are companies waiting in line to get an FM frequency. If this process takes longer than expected, we stand the risk of losing our 95.0 frequency. We continue to broadcast online, using an alternative medium, and we think that is very important. However, the loss of frequency is not something that can be compensated using the internet or podcasts. Furthermore, Açık Radyo being unavailable on FM radio is not a loss just for the radio itself. It is a major loss for citizen broadcasting. There is the accumulated work of thousands of programmers over the years and a standard established by this accumulation. In an age in which digital media accounts for most media consumption, with the serious issue of disinformation, the loss of fact-based, principled reporting on FM radio, that this type of broadcast cannot reach everyone in Istanbul is a serious problem. Yes, we’re not the first, we’re aware of this, but Açık Radyo was perhaps the last among what might be called the alternatives, and among radio stations fully open to the public. It was the station where civilian voices could be heard the most. One link in this chain of losses is the removal of Açık Radyo from FM radio.”

This is why the legal process should be concluded as soon as possible, before greater losses accrue.

The moment the broadcast fell quiet

On 16 October, the day Açık Radyo carried out its final terrestrial broadcast, I was outside the station. The street was crowded. It brought back a very familiar feeling, took me back to the day when Hayatın Sesi television, where I used to work, was shut down after the coup attempt of 2016. I had felt deeply sad, like I was losing my home. Then there had been hope, right alongside the sadness, as I saw the crowd gather outside the station and the incoming messages, the feeling of not being alone. A pendulum swinging between these two emotional poles.

When I ask İlksen Mavituna how he feels in all the commotion, he describes his feelings as follows: “Yes, we can call it a pendulum. This was a process in which we swung between hopelessness and the hope brought on by that great spirit of solidarity. This issue was in the news all through the past summer. The messages and visitor we got from Turkey and abroad in the summer lent us strength, of course. It wouldn’t be fair to say you’re not motivated for the future when you see your voice reach people, your work bear consequence. But to tell you the truth, the moment the transmitter was turned off, I felt stuck, with no exit. Yes, the radio will find its medium, yes it will return to FM broadcasting, but it makes you very sensitive to have your field of expression taken away by force. You feel like a child, perhaps not as fragile as a child whose opportunities have been completely taken away, but still, vulnerable. But that wound goes away immediately with the feeling of altruism that appears as soon as you find others standing by you. I have to say that without the solidarity and the support, we could not have been hopeful. I can say with certainty, speaking for everyone who works here and for listeners who have felt something similar, we felt we were suffocating. There’s nothing I can say to describe the silence when the broadcast was stopped.”

Açık Radyo will always be open, fully open

Let us conclude by quoting what Ömer Madra said outside the station on 16 October, after the final broadcast of the radio: “Açık Radyo is common to all, like parks and forests. When we mention Açık Radyo, we are reminded of a sad song which could not find a home in any other media, an amazing, unforgettable soliloquy from a radio play, a great story rendered visible by literature, a medium that fully surrounds the colors and vibrations of humanity with sound. When we mention Açık Radyo, we are reminded of a cry for peace from millions of people, starting in London and stretching to Ankara. When we mention Açık Radyo, we are reminded of villager women who embrace their trees to defend them in Yırca, Cerattepe and Akbelen. We are reminded of a calm but determined radio station that has always provided a podium and an amplifier for the ecology struggle, for social solidarity and for the struggle for rights.”

Many happy returns Açık Radyo! Açık Radyos hould stay open… Go on, wherever you are, raise the volume of Apaçık Radyo!