Turkey's Independent Media Brace for New Crackdown
Voice of America
ISTANBUL - Rights groups are voicing alarm over a Turkish official's announcement of new legislation and controls on the foreign funding of social media in Turkey.
Dokuz8 Haber is one of many Turkish news portals that have launched on social media in recent years, offering independent journalism. Like many others, it receives support from foreign sources. But this month, Fahrettin Altun, the head of the Turkish President's Communication’s Directorate, accused foreign-funded media organizations of acting as a fifth column in Turkey, undermining the government, he claimed, at the bidding of foreign powers. Dokuz8 chief editor Gokhan Bicici dismisses the allegation, saying the attack is a response to the portal’s success in challenging what he says is the government’s grip on media.
FILE - People hold a banner during a public rally held for the Myanmar community in Australia calling for ASEAN to not support the Myanmar Military Junta, outside the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit venue, in Melbourne, Australia March 4, 2024. FILE - Myanmar military officers march during a parade to commemorate Myanmar's 79th Armed Forces Day, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2024.
FILE - The Treasury Department is seen in Washington, Jan. 18, 2023.
FILE - Venancio Mondlane gestures to supporters gathered to celebrate the results in the local elections in Maputo, Mozambique, Oct. 12, 2023. Mondlane finished second in Mozambique's presidential election on Oct. 9, 2024.
FILE - Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski speaks to reporters during his visit in Kyiv, Dec. 22, 2023.
FILE - The Chinese ship, the bulk carrier Yi Peng 3, right, is anchored and being monitored by a Danish naval patrol vessels in the sea of Kattegat, near the City og Granaa in Jutland, Denmark, Nov. 20, 2024.
FILE - In this May 28, 2017, photo, members of the Biafran separatist movement gather in Umuahia, Nigeria. Police in Finland said on Nov. 21, 2024, the movement's leader and four others were arrested for alleged terror-related activities.
This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on Nov. 22, 2024, shows Ukrainian firefighters working on a spot following an air attack, in Sumy.
Palestinians check the rubble of a building in the aftermath of an Israeli strike south of Gaza City on Nov. 22, 2024.
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during an opening ceremony of a defense exhibition in Pyongyang, North Korea, Nov. 21, 2024.
FILE - Activists participate in a demonstration against fossil fuels at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, in Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 16, 2024. FILE - Pipes are stacked up to be used for the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline project in Durres, Albania, April 18, 2016, to transport gas from the Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan, across Turkey, Greece, Albania and undersea into southern Italy.