Members' 'boycott' reaction to the President: 'Television channels weren't enough for the RTÜK President, now he's trying to curry favor with the Palace'

RTÜK member İlhan Taşçı reacted to RTÜK President Ebubekir Şahin's statement regarding the companies boycotted by CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, asking, "Is this your job?" Another RTÜK member, Tuncay Keser, also criticized Şahin, stating, "In modern democracies, the heads of regulatory and supervisory boards do not threaten media organizations with 'maximum fines/license revocation' at every opportunity."

Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) President Ebubekir Şahin expressed his reaction in a statement on his social media account, claiming that some media organizations were broadcasting the protests in Saraçhane in a manipulative manner. Şahin stated that administrative sanctions would be applied to these organizations at the maximum level.

RTÜK member Tuncay Keser, in his post, reacted to the RTÜK President's statement by saying, "While we are on the subject of definitions; in modern democracies, the heads of autonomous/impartial regulatory/supervisory boards do not threaten media organizations with 'maximum fines/license revocation' at every opportunity. They do not invent crimes such as 'censoring state institutions and their employees'."

On the other hand, CHP Chairman Özgür Özel stated that some media organizations were acting with bias and not broadcasting the protests. Özel initiated a boycott against these media organizations and their affiliated companies.

Regarding the boycott efforts, RTÜK President Ebubekir Şahin stated, "While dozens of our tradespeople are suffering losses in these events, the strange boycott wars launched unfairly against Turkey's most valuable brands are being watched with dismay."

RTÜK member İlhan Taşçı reacted to these words from Şahin. 

Taşçı used the following expressions:

"Television channels weren't enough for the RTÜK President, now he is interfering with CHP Chairman Mr. Özgür Özel's boycott call to curry favor with the Palace! Is this your job!?

It doesn't stop there; he is also trying to have his say on the criticism regarding the closure of City Restaurants (because they couldn't procure supplies!)...

If you ask by what authority, it is by the authority of 'I leaned my back against the Palace, I did it and it happened'! Aren't you the one who said, 'I consider the President's instruction as an order'.

Yet, what the Constitution and the law command you is to be impartial; what critical broadcasters expect from the RTÜK President is to stop being an obstacle to press freedom...

The nation is fed up with your finger-wagging and your blocking of freedoms! Get off, get off the back of both RTÜK and the press!"

News Source: 12punto