It turns out RTÜK was just waiting for an opportunity to shut down Açık Radyo

Forbes magazine prepares a "World's Billionaires List" every year, and through it, we learn about those who possess billions of dollars.

In the 2024 list announced in April, 33 dollar billionaires from Turkey were included. The surprise of this list was the inclusion of President Erdoğan's son-in-law Selçuk Bayraktar, with a fortune reaching 1.2 billion dollars, and his brother Haluk Bayraktar, with 1.1 billion dollars.

In the reports of the opposition media, the inclusion of the Bayraktar brothers in the list was generally in the headlines. However, the pro-government media, which praises almost every activity of Selçuk and Haluk Bayraktar to the skies, ignored the fact that the two brothers had joined the "World's Billionaires."

Anadolu Agency, Bloomberght, Hürriyet, and Sabah also reported on the renewal of the list, but they mentioned the Bayraktar brothers in passing rather than in the headlines. Clearly, they had decided that it was not a situation to be praised. Among the pro-government media, only Diriliş Postası, TGRT Haber, and Yeni Akit covered the enrichment of the Bayraktar brothers in their headlines.

However, starting from mid-September, the list reports began to appear again. From wherever it spread, reports claiming the 2024 rich list had been announced "today" followed one another at intervals on the websites of Sözcü, BirGün, and Yeniçağ newspapers, as well as ABC, Ekonomim, Haber Global, Türkiye Today, Gazete Pencere, Gazete Duvar, T24, 12Punto, Onedio, and Patronlar Dünyası.

T24 even ran the headline "Erdoğan's son-in-law Bayraktar enters Forbes' 'billionaires' list once again," and BirGün used "Son-in-law Bayraktar on the rich list for the second time." However, it was not true that Bayraktar had entered the list for the second time; the Bayraktar brothers had entered the 2024 list for the first time, and there was no new version of the list.

Indeed, Forbes Turkey also felt the need to remind that the billionaires list is announced once a year and is "updated according to the market value of companies and the dollar exchange rate." One of the fundamental problems of news websites is the lack of verification. When one publishes a story, others copy it without checking; they don't even look at the dates properly.

RTÜK AGAINST THE COLORS OF THE UNIVERSE

Açık Radyo had been broadcasting since November 3, 1995. They truly lived up to their slogan, "A radio open to all the sounds of the universe." It was a colorful, enthusiastic, distinct, and diverse radio station.

They broadcasted programs with a high intellectual level, sensitive to environmental and climate issues, and concerned with political and social problems in the world and the country. They were not programs filled with idle chatter between music tracks; they were doing genuine radio broadcasting. That is why they had developed a loyal following, especially in Istanbul, where they broadcasted terrestrially, and of course, throughout Turkey.

RTÜK imposed a fine of 189 thousand TL and a five-time program suspension penalty due to the phrase "genocide commemoration" used by Cengiz Aktar in the "Açık Gazete" program broadcast on April 24. When Turkey opposed the conviction of Doğu Perinçek in Switzerland on the grounds of "denial of genocide," its main thesis was "freedom of expression." Indeed, the European Court of Human Rights had also ruled that "freedom of expression had been violated."

Now, isn't punishing the phrase "genocide commemoration" in Turkey also a violation of freedom of expression, just like in Switzerland? Isn't RTÜK contradicting Turkey's fundamental thesis with this punishment? Unfortunately, we cannot even discuss these questions...

Furthermore, Açık Radyo did not refrain from implementing the sanction after its objection to RTÜK's May 22, 2024, decision was rejected by the Administrative Court. They paid the fine immediately, but there was a glitch regarding the program suspension. When they could not open the notification sent electronically, they waited for a new notification.

It turns out RTÜK was just waiting for an opportunity to shut down Açık Radyo. They decided to revoke the license on the grounds that the broadcast suspension penalty was not implemented. This is truly a ruthless, malicious act. A warning would have been enough to correct the glitch, but they did not do it. Because they do not like freedom of expression and the voicing of different ideas. They have no tolerance for a radio station like Açık Radyo that is open to all colors of life, against all forms of discrimination, and peaceful.

But as in the last sentence Ömer Madra said while the radio was closing, "Açık Radyo will remain open to all the sounds, colors, and vibrations of the universe." Despite RTÜK...

IT WAS THE SLOGAN OF THE MAHSA AMINI PROTESTS

According to CNN Türk, at the Ankara Bar Association Congress, "female lawyers who are members of Contemporary Lawyers took the stage with a banner targeting terrorist leader Abdullah Öcalan and chanted slogans," and a fight broke out when another group of lawyers objected and marched towards them.

The pro-government Sabah, Tvnet, and Yeni Şafak also published the same event as "terror propaganda at the Ankara Bar Association Congress." They claimed that the slogan "Jin, Jiyan, Azadi" (Woman, life, freedom), chanted in Kurdish at the congress, "belonged to terrorist leader Abdullah Öcalan" and that this slogan was "used in terror-supporting marches."

However, this slogan had spread over the years and was adopted by women's movements. Most importantly, it was used in Kurdish or in Persian as "Zen Zendegi Azadi" during the protest demonstrations held after the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran, and it spread to large masses. Since those days, women in Turkey have also frequently shouted this slogan.

In fact, a group of female lawyers who took the stage at the congress were carrying two banners; one read "The Istanbul Convention keeps us alive," and the other read "Jin, jiyan, azadi." On stage, in addition to "Jin, Jiyan, Azadi," they had chanted the slogan "We are not silent, we are not afraid, we do not obey."

This showed that the goal of the female lawyers was not organizational propaganda, but a reaction to the recently increasing violence against women and femicides. The use of labeling adjectives by journalists while writing news and passing judgment distances the news from objectivity.

The terrorization of this women's slogan in the news unfortunately had negative consequences. There were attacks on female students who chanted this slogan, first at Ankara University and then at Koç University. Was it good to contribute to such a ground for violence now?

DISRESPECT FOR DEATH FROM YERLİKAYA

Journalist Ruşen Takva said on Tele1; the family of university student Rojin Kabaiş learned that their daughter's lifeless body had been found from the post of Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya.

Out of respect for the family's grief, Yerlikaya should have waited for the entire family to be informed first, and then made a public statement. However, upon a citizen noticing Rojin Kabaiş's body on the beach and reporting it around 14:00, father Nizamettin Kabaiş was taken from where he was waiting and brought there. The father was likely informed there.

But the father did not have the opportunity to inform the family members about 20 km away. Minister Yerlikaya's statement was at 16:01. Not only did he not wait for the family to learn, but the statement that the teams found the body is also not true.

Anyway, Yerlikaya acts like a spokesperson for the General Directorate of Security rather than the Minister of Interior. He announces even the smallest operation in the country, even a traffic accident, himself from his X account. He is very excited, in a state of mind as if he wants his name to be mentioned constantly in the media.

One sentence:

Most of the football media did not see TFF President İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu's statement that "The previous administration's guest hosting expenses at Euro2024 were 4 million 681 thousand Euros"; those who did report it avoided mentioning that 36 journalists were also among those guests.

Takvim's headline "Halal Accreditation Agency statement on Köfteci Yusuf: No halal certificate" was wrong; the statement confirmed that a halal certificate was given by a "domestic institution."

Hürriyet, Sabah, and 24TV did not publish the name of Limak, which is under government patronage and won the tender, or the name of the Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Ebru Özdemir, despite her appearing in the photo, in their news about the signing ceremony for the Ankara-Kırıkkale and Antalya-Alanya highway projects.

In Hürriyet's "16-year-old grandson horror" news, while it was stated that the third person killed by the grandson was Ufuk Can Us, this person was referred to as "an unidentified person" in the photo caption.

Sözcü created a justification for femicide and legitimized it by using the headline "Love execution in the nightclub."

In the news that dead animals were found in the trash of a rehabilitation center in Gebze by DHA, Akşam, and Milliyet, there was no information that Mayor Zinnur Büyükgöz was from the AKP.

Meta put the condolence post made by Communications Director Fahrettin Altun for Hamas leader Haniye back online upon the objection of "public watchdog" Yaman Akdeniz.

Halk TV used BirGün's "Retired physician poverty research" news without citing the source.

A seizure decision was issued for the second time in a week against the Yeni Yaşam newspaper due to its publications regarding Abdullah Öcalan.

The AKP-run Samsun Metropolitan Municipality had a four-full-page promotion published in Yeni Şafak.

The pro-government media hid the fact that one of the 10 hospitals closed in Istanbul following the exposure of the "Newborn gang" belonged to former Minister of Health Mehmet Müezzinoğlu.

The Ministry of Interior dismissed TSYD President Oğuz Tongsir this time on the grounds that he was "elected irregularly by bringing members from Anatolia" and appointed a trustee in his place.

The Eren-Fatih Özmen couple, whom Hürriyet praised as "The company of Turks that shook the USA" and Takvim as "These Turks have flown," were smeared in the pro-government media last year as "partners with the CIA."

In Freedom House's "2024 Freedom on the Net Report," Turkey ranked 56th among 72 countries and found itself in the category of "countries where the internet is not free."

After President Erdoğan said there might be a cabinet change upon his return from the Serbia trip, "cabinet toto" news started again in the media.

FOR YOUR CRITICISM, COMPLAINTS, AND SUGGESTIONS: [email protected]