Journalist/media critic Ragıp Duran stated that there are constantly outlets being shut down because the Turkish government can’t tolerate even the slightest sound of dissent. Duran pointed out the importance of solidarity against the pressure and said: “We the journalists are the innkeepers, not the guests. Whatever the regime may be, we will continue to write articles, take photographs, draw cartoons, pen analyses, create pages, design programs, shoot videos. Dictatorial regimes on the other hand, as history has taught us, are temporary. Our most urgent need and our greatest wish is to write the articles on their exit.”

There have been many media outlets among the institutions shut down with the Statutory Decrees (KHKs) issued one after another with the declaration of the State of Emergency. Most recently, dihaber, Şûjîn and Rojeva Media have been shut down. There are over 150 journalists in Turkish prisons, while investigations, lawsuits, punishments, threats and attacks continue. We spoke with journalist Ragıp Duran about press freedom in Turkey, the relationship between the government and media and what journalists should do.

With the State of Emergency, we are witnessing an increasing amount of pressure against journalists. Journalists are detained, arrested and targeted. What do you think is happening, why is the government so disturbed?

Following the July 15 coup attempt, the government wants to silence all opposition with the excuse of “FETÖ” to strengthen their position. When we look at the KHKs issued in the State of Emergency and the expulsions, bans and shut-downs therein, we can see that Kurdish media, independent and leftist newspapers, journals and websites and the Academics for Peace have bene targeted. Erdoğan wants to create a “One Man” regime, and he has no tolerance for the slightest criticism or dissent to build his system that is called a “presidential regime a la turca”, but is very similar to fascist dictatorships. Because the regime he wants to establish is very weak and crippled in the sense of law and legitimacy. Publications that could expose these shortcomings could at least create doubt among even the supporters of Erdoğan, so they choose to issue a blanket ban. The government created their own footsoldier media by investing millions of liras they gathered almost by force from public banks and construction companies, but still sees independent journalism and those who insist on the principle that “journalism is essentially defending public interest and standing against all governments” as a great threat. These journalists are trying to fulfill their duty through incredible sacrifice. The continued existence of a media that doesn’t bend the knee for the Palace disturbs Erdoğan.

Censorship shows its face with the single-headline phenomenon. What do you think of the relationship between the government and the media?

Today the government directly or indirectly controls almost 90% of media. The Palace uses this media as a tool to whitewash their illegal/illegitimate policies and practices and to smear the opposition. They are trying to use the media to create their ideological hegemony but they are not very skilled or successful at it. The government media doesn’t bother with investigating the truth or publishing it. They publish things to support the government and put the opposition down with news stories that are very clearly lies. Of course that creates a problem: The government media tries to implement Erdoğan’s stance to the letter, but they stutter because this line is inconsistent, contradictory and ever-changing. So the government media has to write one thing one day, and the polar opposite the next. And thus they lose believability and trustability for the most part.

The government media has one more issue: The spindoctors, either to get in the good graces of the Chief, or to display themselves as better spinners, or maybe due to plain meaningless personal rivalry, have been going at each other fiercely for a while now. They sling insults and curses. The AKP is a metal fatigued political party, and their media is inevitably affected by that. The empty tin that is the “AK media” unmistakably shows in headlines and news stories.

A pro-AKP intelligence member already wrote that the sales figures of government-controlled newspapers are inflated. The hegemonic media grows ever more desperate every day because they are advancing on a dead-end street, and their televisions end up having to publish news that push the limits of the imagination and reasoning of the citizens. That is why a great majority, including AKP voters, see that the government media is not trustworthy. Pro-government media becomes important not for the things they write about, but with those they don’t. The government doesn’t want the massacring of civilian youth in basements in Cizre to be known. They don’t want the capture of MİT members in Dukan to be known. There are thousands of examples. The hegemons think that if the pro-government media doesn’t report on something, it will be like that never happened. The value of the still-standing agencies, newspapers, radios, televisions, websites and journals lies right there. Even if their sales are low, even if they have low ratings, when a newspaper or television publishes a development that disturbs the government, the whole reason for the existence of pro-government media is nullified. The millions upon millions invested in those media outlets go to waste.

Every KHK includes at least a few media outlets, newspapers and websites. Thinking of the effect the media has on society, what do they aim for with this practice?

We know that the specifically targeted, pressured, shut down and banned publications whose writers and reporters are arrested are not huge corporations with hundreds of thousands in sales. Similarly, the websites and televisions don’t have a giant base. These are mostly small to medium scale publications. Despite this fact, if the Palace is disturbed by even the publications with low sales/ratings, it is a sign that things are not going as they wish. The media can affect society in general, and it is an organism that is affected by the developments in society itself. When everyone is expected to parrot the same sentences and express the same opinions, the emergence of just a few different voices wrecks the whole choir. The Palace ideologues are aware of this, that is why they engage in an absolute ban strategy. It is in vain, though. Because we know from experience that if a media outlet is based upon a social/political/ideological foundation, even if that particular outlet is shut down/banned, new outlets take its place under different names and structures to fill that void shortly after.

The government media feeds off of the excess of construction bids, while independent media continues its existence through readers’ support and workers’ sacrifice. The hegemon media, like Noam Chomsky said, can only influence a certain group of people for a certain amount of time. They can’t guide the whole of society forever. And in today’s globalization and internet era, it is no longer possible to hide any truth for long.

As it is apparent how the news produced through journalistic activity force the public discourse to face the truth, what does journalism mean in Turkey?

Turkish media is going through the darkest period in its history since the first newspaper was published on 1831. Look at the number of arrested and convicted journalists. Look at the number of banned/closed newspapers, journals, radios, televisions and websites. World records are being set. Like the executive power and the judicial power, the media is also undergoing a process of a takeover by Palace tyranny.

The profession of journalism is already going through a global crisis due to the internet, relationships to the hegemonic classes, commodification, loss of the amateur spirit and many other factors. But in Turkey, on top of the professional and technical obstacles, the conditions for independent journalism are slowly disappearing due to direct intervention by the political power. But journalism is an important tool in just such periods to expose the irregularities of the government and ensuring the society and the citizens have access to factual, multidimensional and timely news. The government knows that the informed citizen will be better at opposition and censors political news, while they fill the pages and screens with magazine, sports, and “cultural” news. The profession is inching towards its ultimate degeneration. In the eyes of both the reader and accomplished journalists, the profession is in dire straits.

What would you like to say on the map of press freedom in Turkey?

When we look at the map, we see that press freedom has been violated most frequently in two regions: The independent and socialist media in Istanbul, and the Kurdish media centered in Diyarbakır. This is not surprising. Because looking at the two fortresses of opposition against the Palace in Turkey, one sees Istanbul and Diyarbakır inevitably represent the first two on the list.

What should be done to overcome this time of pressure, what should journalism as a profession and practices of this profession the journalists themselves do?

The not-yet-detained journalists truly have it hard. First, it’s important to show solidarity with the imprisoned friends. We must do our job, follow their hearings and expose the inconsistencies in the indictments to show the readers the value and significance of the defense so they can be released. During this time, cooperation with our foreign colleagues (some of whom are also imprisoned) has a distinct importance. Informing the western public and seeking more support from professional organizations and colleagues in the West would be beneficial. We must use our professional organizations, the societies and the unions, and the Contemporary Journalists Association (ÇGD) more actively.

Recently I’ve been researching how journalists operated in Nazi Germany, Nazi-occupied France, Mussolini’s Italy, Franco’s Spain and Salazar’s Portugal. I’m looking into how independent journalists acted against dictatorships in other countries. In this period now, journalism has a different function from normal times with taking full advantage of current legal rights, even though they have been greatly diminished, and using legal methods with opportunities journalism creates for us to produce truthful news.

In the end, we as the journalists are the innkeepers, not the guests. Dictatorship or democracy, whatever the regime may be, we will continue to write articles, take photographs, draw cartoons, pen analyses, create pages, design programs, shoot videos. That is our job. Our job can be done better more easily in a democratic atmosphere. Dictatorial regimes on the other hand, as history has taught us, are temporary. Our most urgent need and our greatest wish is to write the articles on their exit.