Turkey set to ban German and US public broadcasters

Two international public broadcasters are facing an imminent ban in Turkey after defying a demand from authorities that they described as “censorship”.

Germany’s Deutsche Welle and the US public radio service Voice of America said they would refuse to comply with a request, published by Turkey’s broadcast watchdog on Monday, to apply for a broadcast licence within 72 hours — or have access to their websites blocked in Turkey.

The two state-owned outlets, both of which produce an array of Turkish-language news content, said they would appeal against the demand.

The France-based Euronews, which was subject to an identical request, did not say whether or not it would comply.

The stand-off with two leading foreign news outlets risks triggering renewed tensions between Ankara and the west at a time when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been seeking warmer ties after years of fraught relations.

Responding to reports of an impending showdown between Ankara and the three broadcasters earlier this month, the US state department told Voice of America: “Our concerns regarding press freedoms in Turkey are well documented and we continue to urge Turkey to respect and ensure freedom of expression.”

Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council argues that, because they produce Turkish language on-demand and live video reports as well as text-based news stories, the three foreign outlets should comply with a law requiring online broadcasters to have a licence.

That claim was rejected by Voice of America, which warned that licensing would lead to “directives from a regulator to censor or remove content”.

The Washington-based news service said in a statement: “Licensing is the norm for radio and TV broadcasting, because broadcast spectrum is a finite public resource, and governments have a recognised responsibility to regulate the spectrum to ensure it is used in the broader public’s interest. The internet, by contrast, is not a limited resource, and the only possible purpose of a licensing requirement for internet distribution is enabling censorship.”

Deutsche Welle said that submitting to the request would give Turkish authorities the option to “block the entire service based on individual, critical reports unless these reports are deleted”. “This would open up the possibility of censorship,” said Peter Limbourg, DW’s director-general. “We will appeal against this decision and take legal action in the Turkish courts.”

The German public broadcaster added that it had already established a liaison office in Turkey in accordance with the 2019 law, and had been registered with the Turkish authorities since February 2020.

Turkey has cracked down hard on local media in recent years as Erdogan has grown increasingly intolerant of dissenting views.

Arrests, shutdowns, media takeovers and stringent court rulings that took place in the wake of a violent 2016 attempted coup “effectively eradicated the country’s mainstream media and prompted many journalists to leave the profession”, according to the Committee to Protect of Journalists.

International news outlets and social media sites have increasingly found themselves caught up in the government’s efforts to curb free speech as they have become a haven for opposition voices.

YouTube, Facebook and Twitter all bowed to pressure from the Turkish government to set up offices in the country and appoint local representatives after they were threatened with a de facto ban that would have hit their revenues. Critics said the move would make them more vulnerable to government pressure.