Sultan YAVUZ – Funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the Association of Journalists “Media for Democracy/Democracy for Media Programme” (M4D) hosted a workshop titled “Press and Communication Law” in the Press House. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Öğretim Üyesi  Dr. Hacettepe University member of faculty Dr. Muammer Ketizmen informed the audience with his presentation about press and freedom of expression, internet restrictions, related articles in the Turkish Penal Code and the Constitutional Court’s decisions.

M4D Project Assistant Coordinator Seva Ülman Erten made the opening speech and gave information about Dr. Ketizmen who worked as a research assistant at Ankara University, Faculty of Law between 1998 and 2009, then became a member of faculty of Hacettepe University between 2009 and 2010, later to become an Assistant Professor at the same university. Ketizmen, who also took part in administrative duties, worked as Legal Counselor at Hacettepe University, Director of Forensic Informatics Research and Application Center, Vice Dean of Faculty of Law, Member of Ethics Commission and Managing Editor of the faculty.

Muammer Ketizmen then started his presentation and stated that press and communication law is multidimensional, and the first thing that comes to mind with these concepts is the penal system. Ketizmen said, “You initiate the process not only by punishing but with the threat of punishment, even if the journalist does not receive a sentence, they have to hire a lawyer and attend court hearings for two years. An arrest warrant may also be issued.”

Ketizmen noted that criminal law is a very effective tool in the struggle between those in power and the press and pointed out that the criterion for using violence has changed here. Ketizmen pointed out the necessity of modern law’s presumptions that encompass the concepts of pluralism and democracy in order to acknowledge the concept of freedom of press and said:

The most important feature of a democracy is that the opinions of the other party can be expressed and public issues such as political power and administration are always debatable. But if you do not have a democratic and liberal legal system, you can turn the press into a propaganda machine. Like news spreading from a single source, and the same headlines appearing in every newspaper.”

“The problem is how to use freedom of expression”

Ketizmen stated that freedom of expression is the main issue in terms of press and communication and emphasized that legislation such as the Constitution, European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Press Law, TRT Law, Turkish Penal Code and Law No. 5653 on internet are included in this issue. Ketizmen said that the main problem is how to use freedom of expression and said:

“Basically, it is necessary to proceed within the limits of freedom of expression. Freedom of expression, freedom of thought, is the freedom to declare these. A newspaper is a form of this expression. This is the Constitutional Court’s standard; the public being able to access ideas is beneficial for a democratic and pluralist society because it can be informed of the actions of those in power to better make appropriate and rational decisions. 25 of the Constitution is about freedom of thought, and Article 26. İs about freedom of expression.

All of these rights are recognized in the Constitution, but even if they are important as legal texts, they do not speak on their own, they make them speak. The same text can be interpreted in many different ways. What interpretation is accepted does not depend on individuals, but on the hegemon. There’s one rule but a thousand different interpretations, just like of holy books. If there is an emphasis on freedom of expression in Turkey, there is an ideological change there, solely relying on texts does not bring success.”

“The press is the public watchdog”

Ketizmen reminded that ECHR decisions are important for Turkey, the most important reason being these decisions resulting in re-trials and developing prespectives of European standards. In this context, Ketizmen stated that the idea of “The press is the watchdog of the public” has been adopted and added “Therefore, if the public needs to be protected, a free press is needed. In doing so, the ECtHR emphasizes freedom of expression. ”

Ketizmen stated that the protection of private life came to the agenda along with freedom of the press and said, “For example, if you are reporting on political power, the protection area expands. Fame and private lives of people come to the fore, while normal citizens have a wider area of protection, the more popular an individual becomes the more difficult it is to protect their private life. But the more you go up, the more you will have to protect yourself, just like the Ottoman sultans… The press is the best means of protecting freedom of the press and therefore ECHR wants to provide maximum protection for it.”

Stating that the main criterion is the supreme interest of the public , Ketizmen said, “Since this interest is guarded the individual is not punished. Critical statements do not constitute crimes, criticism is fundamental to pluralist democracy, and is part of development. ” Ketizmen said that journalists could write articles that could provoke someone else and have the right to subject others to evaluation and added “You cannot praise violence, you cannot practise hate speech, you cannot incite people to revolt… Other than that, what you say might not be welcome by people, might be considered inflammatory, but it is considered in the context of freedom of expression for the interest of the public.”

Haber kaynaklarının korunmasının 10. Ketizmen stated that news sources are protected by Article 10 and said “The court has stated that the protection of journalistic resources is one of the basic conditions of press freedom. Ben bir şekilde haberdar olmak isterim o yüzden açıklnaması habercilik açısından önemli der” ifadesinde bulundu.

“Internet is more under control than it is free”

Noting that ever since the internet became widespread in Turkey after 1998, what was once considered a free platform has been taken under strict control. Ketizmen stated that the internet benefits from all protections provided by the freedom of expression but recently has been subjected to access restrictions. Speaking of Law No. 5651 on the Internet, Ketizmen said, “You see that restrictions of access are no exceptions, and there is no constitutional guarantee in this regard. A blog was shut down for the first time in Turkey for publishing content that insulted Atatürk. Remember, we couldn't access Youtube for a while. The ECtHR later considered it in terms of preventing access to political discourse. The internet is considered in the context of freedom of expression by the Constitutional Court but only when it broadcasts like the traditional press… That is to say, a news portal does not have the same right to protection as a shopping site.”