DW says Turkey trying to stifle its online operation

Germany’s international broadcaster DW has responded to the Turkish media regulator’s call to apply for a licence for internet services.

In a statement, the German broadcaster said:

DW was given notice from Turkey’s media regulator RTUK on Monday [21 February] to obtain a broadcast license in Turkey within a period of 72 hours or have its online content (dw.com) blocked.

The Turkish media regulatory authority RTUK published a statement to this effect on its website on February 21, 2022.

DW Director General Peter Limbourg: “After having subjected the local media outlets in Turkey to such regulation, an attempt is now being made to restrict the reporting of international media services. This move does not relate to formal aspects of broadcasting, but to the journalistic content itself. It gives the 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. We will appeal against this decision and take legal action in the Turkish courts.”

DW, alongside other international broadcasters, is one of the few remaining news outlets from which people in Turkey can obtain independent information. In addition to DW, Voice of America and Euronews were also given notice to apply for a license.

DW had established a liaison office in Turkey in accordance with the 2019 law and has been registered with the relevant Turkish ministry since February 2020. This registration is independent of DW’s correspondent office in Istanbul.

Commenting on the situation, AIB chief executive Simon Spanswick said: “At the AIB, we are extremely concerned about the demand by Turkey’s media regulator that two of our members – Deutsche Welle and Voice of America – must apply for a licence to deliver their Turkish language service online in the country. The decision by RTÜK appears arbitrary and out of step with other regulators in Europe (RTUK is a member of the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities). There is a real danger that the decision will deprive Turkish citizens of access to the important international news sources that DW and VoA provide.”