‘PM’s demonization of all opponents cause for worry on democracy’

The president of the US-based Freedom House, David J. Kramer, said that the increased harshness of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government's attacks on any group that opposes it and its targeting of the Gülen movement are leading the organization to worry about Turkey's democracy and stability.

“The current rhetorical attack on TÜSİAD (Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen's Association), local and international media and the Gülen movement are part of a pattern of demonization and intimidation of opponents that has been going on for years,” Kramer told Today's Zaman in an exclusive interview.

“What is new is that the attacks have gotten harsher and that the Gülen movement is now also a target. We are very worried about how these attacks are affecting and will affect Turkey's democracy and stability. When corruption allegations surface, it's important that they be investigated fully and transparently,” he added when asked if Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is using hate speech.

On Monday, Freedom House released a report titled “Democracy in Crisis: Corruption, Media and Power in Turkey,” roundly criticizing the Turkish government's attitude toward media.

Faced with massive corruption scandals, the embattled Erdoğan took his rhetoric up a notch last week, attacking opposition parties, the judiciary, the corporate sector, the media, civic groups and what he called “international dark circles” even more aggressively. TÜSİAD was not spared in Erdoğan's hostile discourse: The prime minister accused the organization of treachery. In what is widely seen as an attempt to divert public attention from the corruption scandals, Erdoğan is waging a war against the Gülen movement, which has openly called on the government to punish the wrongdoers and clean up politics. Erdoğan's response was to demonize the movement, branding them the “parallel state” and accusing them of trying to use the graft probe to topple his government in a coup. His rhetoric further hardened when he called the followers of Gülen movement traitors and likened them to hashashins, a medieval group that used assassinations as a means to spread political influence.

Asked his thoughts on the toughening environment for media in Turkey, with bureaucrats and academics refusing to talk to the press for fear of government disapproval, Kramer said that in the short term it was certainly going to be very hard to change the environment.

“When we were here in November it was clear just how hard it is to be a journalist in Turkey, and since then it has only gotten more difficult. In the medium term, though, we see a lot of reasons to be hopeful in Turkey, including about the media. There is so much talent in Turkey's media sector, and so many smart people who are trying new things and finding new ways to collect and share news,” Kramer said.

EU officials have been openly critical of the Erdoğan government, but Washington has refrained from commenting on the recent developments in Turkey. When asked why US officials don't want to get involved, Kramer said, “Turkey is involved in some of the United States' most important strategic issues: Syria, Iran, Iraq, Israel, NATO. The tendency for the United States in its relations with Turkey has been to focus on security issues and to look the other way when it comes to issues of democracy.”

“This was true before the AK Party, by the way, when the US government was very supportive of the military's role in Turkish politics even when that meant ignoring or even condoning major human rights violations. It didn't start with the AK Party. Under the current US administration, we've seen this very clearly. People have been sounding the alarm about where Turkey was headed for several years. To take an example, President Obama came to Turkey on his first overseas trip in 2009. Before he came, people in the Turkish media were begging him to make a strong statement about the threat to freedom of the press -- this was when the tax cases against the Doğan Group had been opened. Instead he told the Turkish parliament the government had strengthened laws protecting freedom of the press,” he added.

Kramer stressed that Obama's stance was a clear signal that the administration was going to look the other way.

“That pattern continued over the years, even as President Obama developed a close relationship with the prime minister. The criticism is that Obama did not use that relationship to raise concerns about developments inside Turkey. The crisis in Turkey's democracy is affecting the United States' important security interests. Turkey is becoming more polarized and that threatens the country's stability -- which in turn threatens all of the security interests I mentioned above. The US has to take Turkey's democratic crisis seriously, and the signal needs to come from the top in the White House,” he said.

“They need to come from the president himself, frankly, especially when his ambassador in Ankara comes under attack,” Kramer added. Erdoğan implied that US Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone could be expelled after allegations surfaced that the envoy had told other diplomats, "You are watching the collapse of an empire [Turkey]”. The US Embassy refuted the claims as lies and slander.

In the immediate future, it's hard to imagine the AK Party government changing its policies, especially with the local elections coming up, Kramer said.

“But those elections make it even more important that the problems we identified get addressed. We know based on our trip here in November that there are a lot of people in the government and outside the government who are extremely concerned about the state of media freedom. In society as a whole, Turkish citizens are more committed than ever to democracy. There are so many incredible new media initiatives and civil society initiatives out there. It's not as if Turkish citizens are sitting around waiting for the situation to get better. So while we recognize these recommendations may not receive a positive response immediately, especially given the developments in the last month or so, we think it is vital to make the case for why Turkey needs a free media, and what Turkey should do to get there. There is no time to lose.”

“As far as media owners, the closeness of media owners to the government has been true for a long time in Turkey, since before the AK Party. Media owners have responsibilities, too -- ethical ones, to support objectivity and to avoid interference in their newsrooms. They need to commit themselves to objectivity and focus on supporting journalism. They have an obligation to their readers and viewers, not to the government or other sources of influence,” he added.

Self-censorship is hurting Turkish journalism, according to Kramer. When Freedom House held a number of meetings with government officials in November, he continued, the officials often said that real journalists should be willing to publish anything no matter the consequences. “Of course that is an impossible position for a journalist who might be sued, or fired, or even thrown in jail. Journalists self-censor because they are afraid of the consequences of speaking out,” Kramer said.

Kramer also said there is a need for stronger institutional protections against political influence in areas like tax inspections and tax penalty assessments. In the long term, specific institutional reforms should be made within the EU accession process, he added.

“There are so many talented journalists in Turkey, working in all sorts of media organizations -- pro-government, opposition, mainstream, independent. They want to do their jobs. They want to be able to report what they learn and to write what they want. It seems like in the past couple of years, an increasing number of journalists are saying ‘Enough' and are choosing to speak out no matter what the consequences. And the international community should support that. It should speak out when the government attacks journalists and the media, and it should find ways to make resources available to journalists who want to start new initiatives and develop new media,” said Kramer.

The Freedom House report released on Monday said: “Turkey is not a dictatorship but it remains a country where criticizing the government means risking your livelihood, your reputation, and sometimes your freedom. And at the present moment, it is a country where the government is behaving more, rather than less, authoritarian.”

“When Brussels told the government two weeks ago that the judicial reform package was not acceptable within the EU framework,” Kramer said, “that wasn't interference. It was honesty. As we say in the report, Turkey has been becoming more authoritarian, not less. This is a very dangerous trend for the country's stability.”

People in Turkey often talk about the “structural” problem in the media, Kramer continued, which is that big holding companies with non-media interests own media outlets, and the government exerts pressure on those holding companies, especially by awarding public procurement contracts.

“This is probably the most important underlying issue in Turkey's media, and the hardest one to change,” said Kramer. “Some people have called for limits on holding companies owning media outlets. We see this problem differently. Big companies own media all over the world -- for example, GE owns one of America's largest media companies, NBC. The real problem is not ownership, it's the lack of transparency and accountability in how the government awards procurement contracts. That creates opportunities for the government to reward companies it likes and punish those it doesn't,” he added.

“How does this relate to free trade?” Kramer asked. “Right now the US and the EU are negotiating the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP. Turkey is not included, but it will be affected because of its customs union with Europe. Therefore many people have recommended that the US and Turkey should negotiate a parallel pact. Procurement should be part of these parallel free trade negotiations. American companies want to bid on procurement contracts in Turkey, and Turkish companies want to bid on procurement contracts in America; both countries want foreign investment. It's a normal free trade issue, with incentives on both sides to have the procurement procedures meet clear international standards,” he said.

When asked about the term “Erdoğanist media,” Kramer said it more or less speaks for itself.

“You have outlets that reflect the position of the prime minister practically no matter what he says. This is especially true with the front page and the most important columns,” he said. Kramer added that during Freedom House's November visit to Turkey, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç and Erdoğan had a disagreement over co-ed housing. Six papers ran basically the same headline, he added, quoting the prime minister as saying, “We will solve it amongst ourselves.”

“This is a clear example of how closeness to the political authorities warps coverage of what should be an incredibly important political story, a public disagreement between two of the most powerful people in the country,” Kramer said.

“We are extremely concerned about the new amendments to the internet law, which were being discussed as the report was going to press. Freedom House made a public statement about them two weeks ago where we said it would be a step backwards for Turkey. There is no question that the amendments would violate the European Convention on Human Rights. The European Court has made multiple rulings on Turkey's current internet law on these issues already and the new amendments would make it even worse,” said Kramer.

Published on Sunday's Zaman, 02 February 2014, Sunday