Deutsche Welle ban in Turkey: “An attempt to color the picture of politics nicely”

Because she did not apply for a license, the Deutsche Welle website has been blocked in Turkey. The Turkish government is apparently trying to suppress undesirable issues from the public eye.

“That was to be expected,” says Christian Feiland. He is the Chairman of the Independent Association of Foreign Journalists in Turkey, FMA. Because months ago, Deutsche Welle (DW) was asked to apply for a license. He thinks it’s right that she didn’t do that.

According to Feiland, a license means access rights for the supervisory authority RTÜK. Deutsche Welle would then have to “commit to removing this message from the network within a few hours, i.e. to operate a kind of censorship”.

The ban is aimed in particular at Deutsche Welle’s Turkish-language service, because everyone in the country understands it – and could also come into contact with criticism of the government. “It’s just an attempt to color the picture of politics nicely,” says Feiland.

High inflation and poverty

Not too many people followed Deutsche Welle in Turkey. But it’s about the issues that the media and Deutsche Welle address – above all high inflation and poverty, says Henrik Meyer of the SPD-affiliated Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Istanbul. The government is therefore threatening to lose the upcoming election.

“The Turkish government can only actually win the elections if it manages to set the agenda differently in the media,” says Meyer. “When topics are discussed other than the economy and the economic crisis and the impoverishment of the middle class. And in this sense it is important that such relatively small media can also be controlled.”

The federal government supports Deutsche Welle

Controlling, regulating, ultimately censoring – that’s what the government is all about, Ilhan Tasci agrees. He is a member of the opposition CHP in the supervisory authority RTÜK. In an interview with the ARDradio studio Istanbul, he says: “They don’t want the citizens to hear about the opposition’s proposed solutions. The procedure shows that they control the media, publishers, news sites, including the Internet, and only want to make one voice heard.”

At least Deutsche Welle knows that the federal government is behind it. Your situation was already an issue during Chancellor Scholz’s inaugural visit to Ankara in March: “We support DW – I also mentioned this in my conversation with the president – that they have free, unimpeded reporting.”

“Difficult weeks and months”

However, the federal government will not be able to do much, says Henrik Meyer from the Ebert Foundation. It’s true that Turkey has to be made aware that media freedom is important for a country that is still an EU candidate, but: “Nevertheless, I fear that DW now has difficult weeks and months ahead of it because the starting position will not change – It will continue to be important to remain in dialogue about this and to state clearly what we expect.”

Ilhan Tasci, on the other hand, paints really black. He thinks the shutdown of Deutsche Welle was just the beginning: “These are still good days for Turkey and the press. Anti-democratic practices will intensify.”

Playout via social media

Deutsche Welle now hopes to return to the Turkish Internet through legal channels. Until then, she manages with the playout via social media.

Here, the broadcaster also wants to explain how you can still get through the Internet – as is already the case in countries such as Belarus, China, Iran or Russia, says director Peter Limbourg in the first: “Unfortunately, the Turkish government is now in this company of these countries that are blocking our offers. And I’m not so sure whether that doesn’t really damage Turkey’s image.”