Hate speech against Selvi

HATE SPEECH AGAINST SELVI 

     Hürriyet columnist Abdülkadir Selvi wrote, “What benefit does it bring to Turkey to keep Osman Kavala in prison and for the Gezi protesters to spend years in jail? What advantage does it provide to the AK Party? It is time for the climate to change and for spring to arrive.”

    Following this article, insults rained down on Selvi from the MHP. The harshest was the post by MHP Social Media Manager Hüseyin Özkan, who stated, “Abdülkadir Selvi is null and void. He is trash. He is a remnant of the Pen and the Sword!” 

    This remark, made based on the fact that Selvi is Alevi, is more than just an insult; it is clear hate speech. It is also a crime under the Turkish Penal Code. But unfortunately, Özkan knows that because he has the power of the ruling party behind him, not even an investigation will be opened against him, which is why his tongue knows no restraint. 

      There is also the Selvi side of the incident, which, like the MHP members, disregards the law; he views the imprisonment of Kavala and the Gezi trial defendants not from the perspective of law, but from the perspective of the benefits it will provide to the ruling power. A journalist should approach the law from the perspective of justice, not political interests. 

“TEFLON JOURNALISM” AT WORK

    The debates and legislative changes in France regarding the banning of “forever pollutants,” which include Teflon and are known to cause cancer, growth disorders, or weakening of the immune system, did not attract much attention from our media.

   The news that the legislative proposal would be voted on in the French parliament was only published by a small number of media outlets, including Akşam, Habertürk, ABC Haber, and Yeni Asır. Moreover, Halktv.com.tr framed its report as if it were a negative development, using the headline: “Bad news for housewives: Teflon pans are being banned.” 

     However, the legislative proposal, which includes banning substances known as "forever chemicals" (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances / PFAS) in all areas of life starting from January 2026, is closely related to public health. 

     The most common of these "forever chemicals," and one that enters almost every kitchen today, is Teflon (PFOA / perfluorooctanoic acid), which was first produced by the French company and growing US chemical giant DuPont. The carcinogenic effect of Teflon has also been the subject of investigative journalism and legal battles in the US. Attorney Robert Bilott's struggle against DuPont was dramatized in the 2019 film "Dark Waters."

      Partly due to the influence of this film, the carcinogenic effect of Teflon (perfluorooctanoic acid) has been a topic of global debate ever since. However, the media in Turkey shows no interest in the harms of Teflon; they see no harm in publishing Teflon advertisements. At the very least, the news reports regarding the ban initiative in France should have mentioned the carcinogenic effect of Teflon. That aspect of the news was missing.

      Furthermore, those who reported that the ban would be voted on in the French parliament did not even follow the outcome of the vote. Yet, the Seb Group, France's largest Teflon manufacturer, handed out signs reading "Don't touch my frying pan" to hundreds of its employees and sent them in front of the National Assembly before the proposal was voted on. 

      They also conducted lobbying activities. In the end, the legislative proposal prepared by environmentalist parliamentarians was accepted unanimously, but kitchen utensils were excluded from the scope of the ban. The ban decision will apply to textile and cosmetic products in January 2026, and to rugs, carpets, sofa upholstery, and outdoor textiles in January 2030.

    Teflon manufacturers have won a victory for now, but the Turkish media, which announced that it would be banned in France, did not report these developments. Those who reported the ban did not follow up to publish what happened next. Thus, those who read the news that it would be banned in France were left with only that information. 

     It is not too late; the media in Turkey should report on the debates regarding the ban and the ban decision in all its dimensions, and inform the public about Teflon and "forever chemicals."

     Journalism that does not prioritize public health and the public interest is like Teflon pans; no problems stick to them. They close their eyes and continue to accept advertisements.

THE DISGRACEFUL ARTICLES OF THE PRESS ADVERTISING AGENCY

     I had never seen the 'Opinions' page of Karar filled with such dense text. The extremely long article had been forced to fit onto a full page by reducing the font size. It also had a long title: 

    'Through the eyes of the Press Advertising Agency: The chronicle of journalism's journey from paper to website-2'

      When you see '2' in the title, you assume the first article was published a few days ago. But that is not the case; the first one was published exactly six months ago, on August 25, 2023. Even more interestingly, the first article did not appear in Karar, but in Yeni Şafak. I had never seen a follow-up article in a different newspaper before... 

    In both newspapers, the activities of the Press Advertising Agency (BİK) were described, and the agency was being advertised. The articles were signed by Özer Elikoğlu, Deputy Director of the BİK Inspection Department. 

     Everything is crystal clear. BİK is the agency that distributes official notices and advertisements to printed newspapers. Yeni Şafak and Karar are newspapers that receive official notices and advertisements from the Press Advertising Agency. In such a situation, could they have an attitude of not publishing those articles? Of course, they could not.

     It is a disgraceful and unethical behavior for the Press Advertising Agency to use the power of money to have its own advertisements published in the institutions it deals with. If they deemed it so necessary, they should have just placed official advertisements instead of having such 'privileged advertorials' published. 

SANTOS WAS A KING WHEN HE ARRIVED, A DUD WHEN HE LEFT

   I would be happy if the football media surprised me just once. But it just doesn't happen. As expected, they were quick to launch a smear campaign after Beşiktaş terminated the contract of head coach Fernando Santos:

   “He looked like he wanted to be fired (Akşam), The mistakes that finished Santos (Hürriyet), Here are the factors that finished Santos (Sabah), A historic fiasco (Sözcü), The bill for the decline was handed to Santos (Karar), He broke Beşiktaş's factory settings (Milliyet), He stayed longer even in Poland (Posta), Santos is a dud too (Türkiye), Poor football pulled the plug on Santos (Yeniçağ), Santos's ticket was cut (Yeni Şafak)”

    The entire football media was in unison that Santos was an unsuccessful coach. Yet, it wasn't long ago, on January 9, that they were in a race to praise Santos while announcing his arrival at Beşiktaş:

       “The engineer will make the Eagle fly (Akşam), He lifts up wreckage teams (Hürriyet), The coach who will bring Beşiktaş into line (Milliyet), Beşiktaş has found its general (Sabah), The boss has arrived, the show is starting (Türkiye), A surprise but high-career coach has come to the Eagle (Yeniçağ).” 

      When Santos arrived, very few football writers criticized him or wrote and said that he would not be successful. Among them, Bülent Timurlenk from Sabah wrote, “The first coach they found available,” and Kemal Belgin from Türkiye wrote, “I don't remember any Portuguese coach who has shown success in this country” in those days. 

      Actually, this is not a situation unique to Santos. Unfortunately, this is the general attitude of our football media. They always treat the newcomer like a king and praise them to the skies; when they leave, they bury them in the ground and leave no insult unsaid behind their backs.

JOURNALISTS DEFENDING BAYRAKTAR

    For the AKP media, President Erdoğan's son-in-law Selçuk Bayraktar, his brother Haluk Bayraktar, and their company Baykar are in the untouchable category. Even at the slightest criticism, they immediately publish headlines and counter-reports. Writers also churn out one laudatory article after another. 

     When a communicator named Evren Barış Yavuz shared a photo from a pro-Palestine protest that included Haluk and Selçuk Bayraktar, with the caption "They are selling jet fuel to Israel," he was immediately targeted. Following the headline in Akşam on April 11, "The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) has taken responsibility for the baseness," Yavuz was arrested, with an article he wrote exactly 10 years ago titled "Why Alevis should have had a PKK" cited as the justification.

     Dutch journalist Frederike Geerdink also angered pro-government columnists when she shared a photo of Selçuk Bayraktar in Çukurca with the caption "Get out of Kurdistan." They addressed her directly and published counter-articles.

      I looked at the newspapers from the last ten days to see which writers were defending the Bayraktar brothers the most. Ahmet Hakan is in first place with three articles. He penned pieces titled "Don't mess with Bayraktar," "If Baykar weren't close to Erdoğan," and "A Dutch woman who tells Bayraktar to get out." Ali Saydam follows him in second place with his articles "What do they want from Bayraktar" and "This was the only thing missing." Hikmet Köksal, İbrahim Karataş, Tarkan Zengin, Faruk Önalan, Hikmet Genç, and İhsan Aktaş have also joined the line of defense with one article each.

    Yet, the Bayraktar brothers continue to respond aggressively to the opposition media with statements, access bans, and criminal complaints. Still, it is significant that so many writers are rushing to support them. I wonder if they are giving reward points to the writers who defend them, I couldn't tell...

OBJECTION TO DHA'S REPORT

    DHA's report titled "Not a museum, but a 'seafood graveyard'" focused on the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality's "Marine Biology Museum": 

    "It has been decided to evacuate nearly 500 entirely deformed marine creatures from the Marine Biology Museum, where they were caught from the sea as part of a doctoral thesis by an Antalya Metropolitan Municipality employee and displayed in chemical water. The terrifying and chilling comments of the children who visited the exhibition under the name of a museum drew attention."

     Elif Özgür, the owner of the collection at the museum, which has been converted into a Marine Sciences Education and Research Center, also reached out to me on the grounds that her opinion was not sought while the report was being prepared. Özgür expressed her views in summary against the criticisms in the report as follows:

   “This report is intended to smear the collection in the eyes of the public and cast a shadow over my professional career while the judicial process is ongoing. Arguments have been fabricated that children visiting the museum were saddened and frightened. This is the first thing we explain to children who come to the museum. Scientific studies protect the population, not the individual.

     This is the scientific approach and understanding we want to instill in children and young people. There is a serious difference in mentality and understanding between explaining the place they visit to them as a ‘graveyard’ versus explaining it as ‘specimens obtained as a result of scientific research.’”

In a single sentence:

The Ministry of National Defense providing ‘defense reporting training’ was an effort to turn journalists into an extension of the ministry’s ‘Press and Public Relations Consultancy.’

NTV turned an attempted murder into violence porn by repeatedly showing the scene where a pro-Gaza priest was attacked with a knife in Australia.

While the pro-government media ignored the hearing of the Kobani trial, the Türkiye newspaper only reported on the CHP delegation observing the trial. 

Akşam published a story claiming ‘The Mayor’s wife is the Deputy Mayor’ regarding Onursal Adıgüzel’s wife, despite Çekmeköy Mayor Orhan Çerkez explicitly denying it.  

In Sözcü’s report titled ‘Warning from Switzerland not to consume Turkish mineral water,’ the reason for the warning and the statement from the relevant company were missing.

In the IHA report titled 'He murdered her, then called her son to inform him,' the surnames of the perpetrator and his murdered wife were redacted, even though their faces were clearly visible in the photos and their addresses were included. 

Pro-government media ignored the fact that striking Lezita workers in Izmir won their lawsuit against strike-breakers, as well as the gendarmerie's use of force against the workers.

It was wrong for Sabah to prepare a one-sided report on the 'paternity suit against Ugur Dundar,' and for Turkiye, Takvim, and Yeni Akit to continue the story while ignoring Ugur Dundar's statement that 'the paternity claim was rejected by the DNA test.'

Cumhuriyet reported that the ongoing TOKI construction was the cause of the landslide in Gaziosmanpasa, Istanbul, but this information was absent from the reports by AA, DHA, and IHA. 

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