A press freedom mission led by the International Press Institute (IPI) visited Ankara from November 13-15, holding meetings with Constitutional Court members, representatives from the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), bureaucrats, opposition parties, and journalists.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) participated in the mission. The mission’s requests to meet with government officials were either declined or ignored.
During the meetings, discussions centered on judicial pressures against journalists, the Constitutional Court's role in protecting freedom of expression, RTÜK's revocation of Açık Radyo's terrestrial broadcasting license, its tendency to impose fines on critical broadcasters, and digital censorship targeting online journalism.
The mission plans to release a detailed report in the coming days addressing these issues. In the meantime, it issued a statement calling on the government to completely withdraw the controversial espionage bill, known as the "influence agent" legislation. The ruling party postponed the bill twice in recent months following public criticism.
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“The bill has been mischaracterized as an effort to increase transparency in foreign funding of civil society organizations, drawing comparisons to Georgia’s foreign agent law passed earlier this summer,” said the statement. “However, these comparisons fail to convey the severity of Turkey’s proposed legislation. Georgia’s law imposes administrative burdens and restrictions on NGOs regarding funding transparency, with rules that can be arbitrarily applied to intimidate government critics. Under Georgia’s law, the most severe penalty for non-compliance is the closure of the organization.
“In contrast, Turkey’s ‘agents of influence’ bill amends the country’s espionage act to allow individuals deemed to be acting in line with foreign interests to be effectively treated as spies in judicial proceedings. This would become an aggravating element of any conviction and can significantly increase sentences.
“On Nov 14, the government paused the bill’s passage through parliament and invited the opposition to collaborate on finding a compromise text.
“The media freedom groups, who were in Ankara to discuss the bill when it was paused, believe the only acceptable compromise would be to replace all references to acting in alignment with or under the direction of foreign states or organizations with “acting on behalf of a foreign intelligence agency.” Anything less may open up the possibility for the law to be used to arbitrarily target government critics.”
Proposed article 339/A of the Turkish Penal Code
1. Anyone who commits a crime in alignment with the strategic interests or instructions of a foreign state or organization, against the security of the state or its internal or external political interests, shall be sentenced to three to seven years in prison. The offender shall be sentenced for both this crime and any other relevant crime committed.
2. If committed during wartime, or in a way that endangers the state's war preparations, activities, or military operations, the offender shall face eight to twelve years in prison.
3. If committed by those serving in positions of strategic national security within institutions handling important projects, facilities, or services, the sentence shall be doubled.
4. Prosecution of this offense is subject to the permission of the Minister of Justice.
(HA/VK)
