Letter from a Turkish prison: “Journalists are being eliminated with the club of justice”

His trial begins on May 21st in a criminal court in Ankara. In an article written in Silivri prison near Istanbul, he describes the state of journalism in Turkey.

I have been imprisoned for 91 days and am in a solitary cell in the closed Marmara prison, where several media professionals are locked up besides me.

Why is a journalist imprisoned? Not because he committed a crime, but because he was feared.

Journalists are being eliminated by the judiciary because they are considered “dangerous”. Dangerous for a power that wants a thorn-free rose garden – a system without control and contradiction.

The imprisonment of Tele1 founder Merdan Yanardağ, myself and most recently award-winning journalist İsmail Arı is part of this attempt to punish and silence critical, questioning and investigative journalism.

In the current political era in Turkey, journalism has been increasingly relegated to a form of public relations through enforced loyalty.

Central elements of the job – asking questions, researching, criticizing – have been pushed into the background under the pressure of the system.

The government now even determines what can be written. The term for this is: “Journalism information sheet”. But there are still journalists who refuse this system.

The political leadership has also created an instrument for this: the censorship law.

The regulation on the “public dissemination of misleading information”, which was added to the Turkish penal code in 2022, is intended to prevent journalists from crossing the borders set by the government.

The aim is not just to control what is considered “correct information”. It is primarily about controlling opinions – both of the media and of citizens.

Another means of restricting press freedom is to prevent journalists from accessing information.

There have been no real press conferences for years – primarily by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, but also by ministers and high-ranking officials.

If so, asking questions is prohibited. The result: control of political power as well as the population’s right to information are largely undermined.

Why does this matter? Because freedom of the press is one of the central criteria for the existence of democracy.

Its purpose is to control political power on behalf of the public, to inform citizens about real conditions and to enable them to form informed democratic opinions.

Aware of this, the government has taken various measures to create extensive media concentration.

With courage against the climate of fear

This has become an instrument of psychological influence on society. Under these conditions, journalism in Turkey is like searching for truth in a minefield.

Nevertheless, there is no reason for resignation. The climate of fear can only be countered by strengthening courage and insisting on journalism.

Outside, numerous journalists continue to fight for the population’s right to information – despite massive pressure.

The investigative journalist Uğur Mumcu, who was killed in 1993, once put it this way: “A journalist is someone who dares to fight against governments and centers of power.” Uğur Mumcu and all those journalists who were murdered for this work are still reference points for this profession today.