Nihat Celik

Image of CNNTURK and CNN International — While CNNTURK chose to air a documentary about penguins, CNN International was broadcasting the protests. Hence the name, ‘penguin media’.

Nevertheless, these measures appeared to be insufficient, and in the end, he decided to leave the media sector altogether in the face of multiple tax-related charges and lawsuits that the Ministry of Finance launched. Ownership changes led to further monopolization of the media sector in Turkey and the emergence of the popular term "yandas medya – the government-controlled media,"; while it is estimated that thousands of journalists and reporters lost their jobs in the process. This paper aims to show what mechanisms and tools are employed in creating the AKP-controlled media, which totally changed the media environment in Turkey. The second aim is to show the struggles of the independent media outlets for survival in the face of financial and political pressures from the government and the rising trend of YouTube journalism, trying to penetrate the AKP's control over the mass-media.

A photograph taken in 2013 during the Gezi Protests, criticizing the silence of corporate media channels that did not broadcast the protests.

Photo of columnist Kadri Gursel of the daily Cumhuriyet — After spending 11 months in jail on the charge of terrorist organization membership, columnist Kadri Gursel of the daily Cumhuriyet was released in September 2017. Later, he and his 12 colleagues were acquitted. Gursel is also the head of IPI’s Turkey Chapter.

In the last two decades, Turkey witnessed a rapid wave of ownership change of its mainstream media groups. The largest three media groups that controlled many television channels and newspapers, Sabah-ATV, Dogan Media, and Cukurova, changed hands. In these transfers, government intervention played a significant role as both media groups were purchased by pro-Justice and Development Party (AKP) businessmen and through credits with very advantageous terms provided by the government-owned banks. Aydin Dogan, the previous owner of the Dogan Media Group, which includes the CNN-affiliated CNN-Turk TV channel in addition to other media outlets, tried to appease the AKP government by introducing censorship and sacking the journalists who took an anti-AKP stance in his media outlets because of the instructions he received from the JDP leadership.

The power of fake news and manipulation: The pro-AKP media’s interview with the person who claimed to have been attacked by the protestors during the Gezi protests in 2013, just for wearing a headscarf. Image of AKP Newspapers — The power of fake news and manipulation: The pro-AKP media’s interview with the person who claimed to have been attacked by the protestors during the Gezi protests in 2013, just for wearing a headscarf.

Satirical Turkish opposition media front page calling Erdogan "an excellent person" — Birgun, February 19, 2021. “Reis is an excellent person” The note at the bottom reads: “To avoid seeing news like this one only one day, today subscribe to Birgun.”
(‘Reis’ is Erdogan’s nickname in public which means ‘leader’.)

Dr. Nihat Celik is a lecturer School of Public Affairs, San Diego State University. He received his PhD from Kadir Has University in 2015 with a dissertation titled “The Intentions and Capabilities of Turkey as a Regional Power: A Structural Realist Analysis (2002-2014).” He worked as a research assistant at the same university and held a visiting researcher position at Coventry University. His research areas include Turkish foreign policy, diplomatic history of the Ottoman Empire, foreign policy analysis, bureaucracy, and nonprofit organizations. His publications have appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as Turkish Studies, and Geopolitics.

Nihat Celik

The Establishment of AKP Monopoly over the Media in Turkey

Panel 2: State Policy, Industries and Media Landscapes