Turkey’s Erdogan Threatens To Retaliate Against Media Publishing ‘Harmful Content’

Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan threatened to retaliate if the media publishes material viewed as “harmful content.” He did not specify what kind of content, however, but simply referred to “overt or covert activities through the media aimed at undermining our national and moral values ​​and disrupting our family and social structure.” Erdogan made the threat in a notice published in the country’s Official Gazette, Al Jazeera reported over the weekend. He said that the move was required to protect Turkey’s “national culture” and to prevent the development of Turkish children “from being adversely affected as a result of exposure to harmful content on all written, verbal and visual media.” Some 90% of major media in Turkey is owned by the state or by people close to the government, according to Al Jazeera. The country’s media watchdog, which has the power to remove online content, has flagged material it claims violates Turkish values, including music videos it considers “erotic,” LGBTQ references or content it says has insulted the president. The notice comes a week after the arrest and jailing of well-known Turkish journalist Sedef Kabas for allegedly insulting Erdogan. Kabas cited a proverb both on Twitter and in an interview on an opposition television channel that appeared to be meant to insult the president. The law in Turkey on insulting the president carries a jail sentence of a minimum of one year and up to four years. Thousands of Turks have been charged and sentenced for insulting Erdogan over the course of his near-decade as president.