TÜRKİYE ORTA ASYA HABER KKUORDİNATÖRÜ

IFJ-INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF JOURNALISTS Ertuğrul Demirözcan Ertuğrul Demirözcan November 22, 2025 The parliamentary coalition government led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) maintains strong control over the media, courts, and most state institutions, regularly ostracizing or punishing individuals perceived as critics of the government. Political divisions and power struggles within Türkiye's highest courts, along with increasing reports of corruption within the state and judiciary, have further undermined human rights and the rule of law. Authorities, including the courts, have continued to ignore or reject binding rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), finding Türkiye in violation, leading to the continuation of serious violations. The cost-of-living crisis continued into 2024, and the Turkish Statistical Institute announced an annual inflation rate of 47 percent in November. In local elections in March, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) achieved its biggest gain in over two decades against Erdoğan’s AKP, winning 37.8 percent of the vote nationwide, while the AKP held the municipalities of Istanbul and Ankara with 35 percent of the vote. Freedom of Expression The government’s control of the media includes public broadcaster TRT and Anadolu Agency, and most television news channels and print media are aligned with the government. Independent media in Türkiye operates primarily through online platforms. Authorities regularly order the removal of critical online content or negative news reports about public officials, companies, the President and his family, and members of the judiciary, or the blocking of websites and platforms. The justifications typically include vague threats to national security or public order or violations of personal rights. Constitutional Court decisions issued in November 2023 and January 2024 ruled that two articles of Internet Law No. 5651, which allow the blocking or removal of content on these grounds, violated the right to freedom of expression; The January ruling repealed the article concerning the violation of personal rights. Courts frequently block multiple accounts in a single ruling. The Freedom of Expression Association's EngelliWeb project reported that, as of the end of March, Türkiye had blocked more than one million websites since the 2007 Internet Law was enacted. On August 2, after the Presidential Communications Director criticized Meta for removing condolence messages regarding Ismail Haniye, the former head of the Hamas Political Bureau who was killed on July 31, Turkish authorities did not provide any justification.