Striking comment on the trustee decision for TELE1 from RTÜK member Tuncay Keser: It weakens the common voice of society

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an "espionage" investigation into CHP's imprisoned presidential candidate and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, TELE1 Editor-in-Chief Merdan Yanardağ, and İmamoğlu's advisor and campaign director Necati Özkan. 

Within the scope of the investigation, Merdan Yanardağ was detained, and his home and the TELE1 building were searched by police. Hüseyin Gün became the key figure in the prosecutor's investigation, which used the phrase "Ekrem İmamoğlu criminal organization." 

In the evening hours, a trustee was appointed to ABC Radyo Televizyon ve Dijital Yayıncılık Anonim Şirketi, the owner of TELE1. CHP Chairman Özgür Özel reacted on his social media account to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office's appointment of the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) as the administrative trustee for TELE1.

RTÜK member Tuncay Keser, in a statement on his social media account regarding the appointment of a trustee to TELE1, noted the following:

"A trustee has been appointed to TELE1. A new large group in the media has become the trustee media. Freedom of the press is indispensable for a strong democracy. The decrease in media diversity weakens the common voice of society. As uniformity in the media increases, the breath of democracy narrows..."