Turkey Blocks Access to Deutsche Welle and Voice of America

The Supreme Board of Radio and Television enforced a February decision requiring international media that air television content in Turkish online to apply for a broadcast license. An Ankara court ruled to restrict access to the websites of the state-owned Deutsche Welle and Voice of America late Thursday.

Neither website was available in Turkey on Friday. In a statement, Deutsche Welle said it did not comply with the licensing requirement because it “would have allowed the Turkish government to censor editorial content.”

DW Director general Peter Limbourg said this was explained in detail to the Turkish radio and TV board, abbreviated as RTUK.

“For example, media licensed in Turkey are required to delete online content that RTUK interprets as inappropriate. This is simply unacceptable for an independent broadcaster. DW will take legal action against the blocking that has now taken place,” Limbourg said.

Ilhan Tasci, a RTUK member from Turkey's main opposition Republican People’s Party, said he opposed the move to block the two foreign broadcasters. The board applied to the court for the access restriction, he said.

“Here is press freedom and advanced democracy,” he tweeted sarcastically.

The board is dominated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party and its nationalist allies, and regularly fines critical broadcasters.

DW notes that news of the blocking was already spreading on social media in Turkey yesterday (Thursday, June 30) evening. There, users of DW’s offerings can find out about ways to circumvent censorship.

DW's websites in all its program languages, along with those of international broadcaster Voice Of America, were no longer accessible in Turkey late Thursday. 

DW publishes news in 32 languages, including Turkish.

Turkey was rated “Not Free” for 2021 on the Freedom of the Net index by Freedom House. Hundreds of thousands of domains and web addresses have been blocked.

Reporters Without Borders ranked Turkey at 149 out of 180 countries in its World Press Freedom Index, saying “all possible means are used to undermine critics,” including stripping journalists of press cards, online censorship, lawsuits and arrests.



PUKmedia