Press Council President Pınar Türenç speaks at Local Media Workshop: "Anatolian press is on life support"

The "2023 Anatolian Meetings Local Media Workshop", organized in the Marmaris district of Muğla in cooperation with the Republican People's Party (CHP), the Marmaris Municipality, and professional press organizations, began today.

In addition to nearly 300 media members from all over Turkey, the workshop was attended by CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, CHP Deputy Chairmen Eren Erdem, Semra Dinçer, and Ahmet Akın, CHP Istanbul MP Yüksel Mansur Kılınç, former CHP İzmir MP Atila Sertel, Muğla Metropolitan Mayor Osman Gürün, Marmaris Mayor Mehmet Oktay, Bodrum Mayor Ahmet Aras, RTÜK members İlhan Taşcı and Tuncay Keser, CHP Muğla Provincial Chairman Zekican Balcı, Journalists Union of Turkey President Gökhan Durmuş, Contemporary Journalists Association President Kıvanç El, Press Council President Pınar Türenç, Turkish Journalists Federation President Yılmaz Karaca, İzmir Journalists Association President Dilek Gappi, Journalists Association Secretary General Kenan Şener, Turkish Journalists Confederation Vice President Cem Kaytan, and Global Journalists Council Vice President Hüsniye Karakoyun.

Press Council President Pınar Türenç, who gave a speech at the workshop, stated the following:

"In this period when the media is facing severe problems, we are aware that we can overcome them without giving up, without tiring, and without fear... The price of this struggle is prison, prison... There are already countless journalists inside. Dozens of journalists spending their lives within those cold walls of Silivri; they are fighting for their lives.

Three days ago, I watched a hearing that we felt ashamed of. It was a hearing where Merdan Yanardağ was only able to defend himself after exactly 101 days. I tried to visit him many times, but I could not get permission. When he appeared before us, I saw that his shoulders had slumped, his color had faded, his hair had turned completely white, and he had lost weight... We owe Merdan a debt of life 101 times over. We need to embrace and hold him 101 times more.

These prices are not paid easily. It is not just Merdan... We have been suffering this pain for years. They are making us suffer this. Actually, this is the issue of the Turkish press. As we move away from our values, from the law, from freedom; the media collapses to the bottom like this, the political institution collapses, the economy collapses. Young people at 9 Eylül University are struggling with forks and knives; saying we are hungry, we cannot attend class. The health system has collapsed, education has collapsed; we are here talking about the whirlpool the Anatolian media has fallen into. Of course, we will talk. One needs to look at the whole picture..."

"WE WILL STOP THE 'YOU VS. ME' FIGHT"

"We will stop the 'you vs. me' fight now. 'Your association, my association.' We have moved past these. If the number of newspapers has dropped from 2,000 to 870 today, we need to think. Last month in Adana, the 105-year-old Adana Gazetesi was shut down. A real journalist feels the pain of this. How will we get out of this life support? This must be our path.

The most important pillar of resistance for the climate of freedom is freedom of expression. If we have lost this, if they are making us lose it; we must show resistance all together. Freedom is not lived or kept alive by erecting multi-story Global Journalists buildings in Ankara. I feel ashamed. Why was the Global Journalists Council established in Turkey?

Nothing happens with palaces, and nothing will. We are aware that the political understanding that causes us to live through this in lands where freedoms are destroyed is also heading toward the bottom, aren't we?"

"WE MUST WIELD THE PEN WITH UNYIELDING COURAGE"

"We are here. If it's a struggle, then it's a struggle. If it's Silivri, then it's Silivri. Barış Pehlivan is inside. He is pacing the corridors with drug traffickers. Are we not ashamed? Did we all crowd those gates? We did not... We will not allow this pen to be broken. I experienced this first and foremost. My husband is gone. We will not allow it from now on, we must not allow it. We are the owners of the Constitution and the laws. These laws are not being implemented. It is our duty to have them implemented. We are journalists, we are public servants. Those who do not give up, who wield this pen with courage; those who must wield it... If this pen has been placed in our hands, we must fulfill this duty.

We all have to support all professional organizations living on life support; journalists who are struggling to survive and who have become unemployed. The way to do this is through a union of forces.

News Source: 12punto