, Turkey's media watchdog, has announced that TV stations are being closely monitored over their coverage of an opposition-led boycott call, warning of sanctions if they promote the boycott in their broadcasts.){kind=link}
Ebubekir Şahin, head of the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), Turkey’s media watchdog, has announced that TV stations are being closely monitored over their coverage of an opposition-led boycott call, warning of sanctions if they promote the boycott in their broadcasts.
Wednesday was declared a “no-buy day” by university students leading protests against the arrest of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. The initiative has been backed by İmamoğlu’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which had initially launched the boycott against pro-government businesses and media organizations in protest of the mayor’s arrest last month.
In a post on X, Şahin claimed that the calls for a boycott were an attempt to undermine Turkey’s “values and achievements.”
“TV stations and broadcasters that support the boycott are being monitored by our experts, and the necessary action will be taken,” Şahin said. “Those who seek to harm our nation’s common values are doomed to fail.”
He also reiterated RTÜK’s commitment to encouraging broadcasting that respects “national and moral sensitivities” and protects Turkey’s “strong media structure.”
RTÜK recently attracted widespread criticism when it imposed a 10-day broadcast ban on Sözcü TV and imposed other sanctions on three other opposition-aligned stations over their coverage of mass protests following the detention of İmamoğlu.
The crackdown came as tens of thousands continue to protest İmamoğlu’s arrest and the broader political climate in Turkey. RTÜK had reportedly issued verbal instructions to television outlets to halt live broadcasts of the protests — orders some channels refused to follow without a written directive.
İmamoğlu, widely seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strongest political rival, was arrested March 23 on corruption charges that many say are politically motivated. His detention has sparked widespread protests unseen in the country since 2013 and has intensified tensions.
Actress dropped from series over boycott support
Meanwhile, actress Aybüke Pusat has been removed from the cast of the series “Teşkilat” (Organization), which airs on state-run TRT 1, after expressing support for the nationwide “no-buy day” on Wednesday.
Pusat’s removal came after she was publicly targeted by Cem Küçük, a journalist with close ties to the government.
The series “Rumi,” written by screenwriter Ali Aydın, was also removed from the global streaming platform Tabii, owned by TRT. Aydın, who had voiced support for Pusat, warned that if the actress was punished for exercising a democratic right and fired from her job, he would quit working on “Rumi,” despite it being one of the platform’s most popular productions.
2,000 people detained
Nearly 2,000 people have been detained since March 19, the day İmamoğlu was detained, for protesting his detention and subsequent arrest, according to the Anka news agency. Most of the detainees are young people, 316 of whom have been put in pretrial detention.
Detainees in İzmir, Bursa, Ankara, Kocaeli and Adana provinces spent the Eid-al-Fitr holiday in jail since prosecutors have yet to draft indictments against them.
However, the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has filed two separate indictments against 213 protesters in the city, including some who remain in custody, seeking prison sentences ranging from six months to three years.