Access to the VOA Turkish website voaturkce.com was blocked in Turkey on Tuesday 29 August, following a court order banning access due to the international news organisation’s failure to apply for a broadcast license from Turkey’s media regulator.

In a warning posted on its website on August 21, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK) gave VOA Turkish 72 hours to apply for an on-demand broadcast license or risk having the court block access to VOA Turkish content.

The media watchdog cited a 2019 law that authorises RTUK to request licenses from “media service providers” for their radio, TV and on-demand services in order for them to continue their online presence. Broadcast executives who air content without a licence could face charges that carry sentences of up to two years in prison.

VOA’s public relations department in Washington said the broadcaster does not plan to obtain a licence from the regulator.

“Given VOA’s status as a public service international broadcaster legally required to provide ‘accurate, objective, and comprehensive’ news coverage to its global audience, VOA cannot comply with any directive intended to enable censorship,” VOA spokesperson Bridget Serchak said.

Banned without a hearing

Following RTUK’s request Monday 28 August to block access to VOA Turkish content, Ankara’s 9th Criminal Court of Peace issued the ban the same day without holding a hearing.

The court order, obtained by VOA, said the access-blocking decision was sent to the Access Providers Association, an organisation that carries out media bans in Turkey. The court also stated that its ruling can be appealed within seven days.

The decision comes more than a year after RTUK banned access to VOA Turkish’s previous domain name, amerikaninsesi.com, and German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, as the news outlets refused to comply with the regulator’s license requirement because of censorship concerns.

On July 1, 2022, after the access ban was placed on VOA Turkish and DW, RTUK said that if the outlets acted in accordance with the regulation, “blocking their websites by the independent judiciary would not have been applied.”

“If these broadcasting websites form companies in our country and start their licensing process in accordance with our laws, RTUK will request from the judicial authorities to terminate the access ban,” RTUK said in a statement.

“RTUK supports pluralism, free press, and free reporting by media outlets. However, like every democratic country, Turkey is a state with the rule of law. RTUK, which is a guide to the sector, is in favour of the legal dissemination of news content under certain guarantees,” the regulator added.

Ruling also blocks alternate domain

VOA Turkish moved to a different domain name months after RTUK blocked access in June 2022. Monday’s court ruling blocks access to content under that domain name, as well.

The on-demand broadcast license requested by RTUK is commonly acquired by streaming platforms such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video to operate in the Turkish market.

The law enables RTUK to impose fines, suspend broadcasting for three months or cancel broadcast licences if the licencees do not follow RTUK’s principles.

Press freedom advocates say that obtaining a broadcast licence from RTUK would allow the regulator to censor news content.

Gurkan Ozturan, who coordinates the Media Freedom Rapid Response alliance at the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), views the court ruling against VOA Turkish as a “development that gradually diminishes media freedom and increases the pressure that media outlets face.”

“It is quite possible that unwanted news content will be subject to content removal orders after obtaining a licence,” Ozturan told VOA.

He also noted that RTUK’s involvement in news content has increased in recent years.

“We have seen that RTUK has ruled to ban access with arbitrary decisions on the basis of moral values, especially over LGBTI+ news content and all kinds of content in digital media,” Ozturan added.