Free press, free tomorrows...

The Press Council, which has undertaken an important role in the struggle for freedom of press workers, recently celebrated its 37th anniversary. To briefly summarize the history of the Press Council, the preparations for its establishment began when Oktay Ekşi, the chief editor of Hürriyet newspaper, put his thoughts on the re-establishment and survival of a structure that would ensure self-regulation in the press into a draft and opened it for discussion at a meeting attended by 28 journalists in May 1986. Subsequently, a working group consisting of experienced journalists such as Hasan Cemal, Güneri Civaoğlu, Yalçın Doğan, Oktay Ekşi, Teoman Erel, Orhan Erinç, Yurdakul Fincancı, Güngör Mengi, and Rauf Tamer contacted various press organizations and journalists to collect suggestions on the idea of establishing the Press Council and ensured the maturation of the structure. With such intense and collective efforts, the Press Council was established in February 1988.

37 years is a long time... Pınar Türenç, the president of such an important institution that has also witnessed the recent past of Turkish political history, presented the honorary award to Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Prof. Dr. Yılmaz Büyükerşen at the anniversary dinner held on Saturday. Büyükerşen delivered an important speech at the meeting, which was attended by the founder of the Press Council Oktay Ekşi, former deputy Güldal Mumcu, Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ayşe Ünlüce, the presidents of the İzmir and Southeastern Journalists Associations, legal experts, academics, veteran journalists, and members of the Press Council's High Board. He recounted that when the publication of a statement by İsmet Paşa was banned in the Sakarya newspaper, where he served as the managing editor during the Democrat Party era, they were forced to run the headline "How to Make Stuffed Eggplant." 

You read that correctly; 65 years ago, due to the censorship imposed on the press by the government, Büyükerşen Hoca was forced to run the headline "How to Make Stuffed Eggplant"...

After Büyükerşen's speech, we had the chance to listen to the difficulties experienced by press members from the past to the present through examples from master journalists. During all these speeches, the following words of Cumhuriyet newspaper columnist Ali Sirmen, which he said while describing his trial in the Peace Association case during the September 12 period in his book "For an Old Republic," came to my mind: 

"I have seen the prisons and courts of both September 12 and March 12. Both were less bad than today's civil courts and civil prisons. I cannot say they were better..."

Yes, although every era has its own unique conditions, the period we are going through will go down in history as an unprecedented time in terms of press freedom, where journalists experience great difficulties, media members struggle to survive, and are subjected to pressures, imprisonment, and detentions. 

Speaking of "How to Make Stuffed Eggplant," we can also say that the headlines that were run or could not be run are also a reflection of the understanding of press freedom held by the governments in our political history. Look, in the book "Those Headlines - The Story of Headlines from the Pens of Those Who Wrote Them," prepared by Press Council High Board member Tufan Türenç—let us commemorate the master journalist Türenç on the anniversary of his passing today—together with Sefa Kaplan, they recorded the stories of some headlines run in the flagship newspaper of the era, Hürriyet, from 1948 to 2006, from the pens of the journalists who wrote those headlines.

While writing this article, I felt the need to take a look at the book; the story of Cüneyt Arcayürek reaching the letter of US President Johnson in 1965 and the headline "Johnson's Letter Confused the Parliament," the "Tremendous Scandal Allegation" headline in 1992 when Saygı Öztürk reached the information that the Anatolian High School exams were being sold and the printed question booklet, the "Incredible File" headline in 1993 where Yıldırım Çavlı reported on the corruption allegations regarding İSKİ, the "Lost Bosnia money found in bankrupt bank" headline in 1994 where Vahap Munyar reported on the money collected by Süleyman Mercümek, the "Gönül Hanım's tremendous land" headline in 1994 where Erdal İzgi reported on the unzoned land purchased in Kuşadası by Suna Gönül Pelister, the special advisor to the prime minister of the time, Tansu Çiller, and others... Of course, journalists have struggled with political pressures in every era and have been subjected to censorship at various times, but the "Those Headlines" book, which archives these headlines, shows that no matter which view the government held, journalists were able to carry critical news about the government to the headlines in every era. 

The times we are going through, however, are very thought-provoking... That is why we can say that the pressures on the press in this period are "unprecedented."

There seems to be no other way than to write, draw, think, produce, and most importantly, to show solidarity... Today, on the anniversary of the opening of the first Parliament on April 23, 1920, when we will celebrate our National Sovereignty and Children's Day, I wish for independent and free tomorrows that we can leave to our children and youth. Despite everything, let us keep our hope alive.