By Gürkan Özturan
As the Future Free Speech project released its latest report, the findings on Turkey paint an interesting image. Turkish society seems to predominantly have a strong sense of support for freedom of expression, in principle. Yet experiences lived in the country deeply contradict this support, as the reality shows that freedom remains perilously fragile and in many cases unfeasible.
In the report, titled “Turkey: Who Supports Free Speech?” one can see widespread support for free expression values across the political spectrum. Yet, the report also reveals the contradiction from the government’s perspective, in an atmosphere of increasing authoritarianism that attempts to silence critical voices, independent media, and limit actions of the civil society. As a result, while the charts from the report may show a more optimistic view, the reality on the ground for journalists, media, and activist circles tells a completely different story.
Media Freedom Rapid Response’s (MFRR) annual Media Freedom Monitoring Report as well as the annual Mission Report on Turkey, both show that the country remains one of the most repressive countries in terms of media freedom in Europe. On the Mapping Media Freedom monitoring database, 135 press and media freedom violations involving 317 media-related persons or entities were reported in Turkey during 2024. Physical violence targeting journalists was common during election periods, and more than half of the attacks against journalists involved police or state security officers.
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