Turkish radio station’s licence rescinded after “Armenian genocide” mentioned during broadcast
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on Türkiye’s judicial system to overturn the broadcasting regulator’s decision to rescind an independent radio station’s licence for failing to immediately comply with a suspension order. The regulator, the High Council for Broadcasting (RTÜK), must stop obstructing the right to pluralistic media reporting, RSF says.
The RTÜK announced on 3 July that it was stripping Açik Radyo (“Free Radio”) of its licence for “refusing to comply” with the five-day broadcasting suspension that RTÜK ordered on 22 May as punishment for hosting a guest who “incited hate and hostility” by referring to the 1915 “Armenia genocide” during a broadcast on 24 April.
The radio station’s lawyers had filed an appeal with the Ankara administrative court asking it to quash the suspension order. But, without waiting for the court to issue its decision on the appeal, the RTÜK rescinded the station’s licence for non-compliance.
“It is shocking to see the eagerness with which a regulator – an entity that’s supposed to protect the Turkish broadcast media landscape and monitor respect for ethics – uses any opportunity to cancel the licence of an independent radio station, a symbol of diversity in Türkiye for nearly 30 years. We urge the RTÜK to end these discriminatory and repressive practices. The administrative court must also overturn this sanction and safeguard the radio station’s rights.”
Erol Onderoglu
RSF’s Türkiye Representative
Created in 1994 to regulate commercial broadcasting, the RTÜK has nine members, including former journalists and civil servants. They are nominated by Türkiye’s political parties in proportion to the number of seats their parties occupy in the National Assembly. The RTÜK is currently dominated by the ruling AKP–MHP coalition (Justice and Development Party and Nationalist Action Party).
