Censorship in Turkey is regulated by domestic and international legislation, the latter (in theory) taking precedence over domestic law, according to Article 90 of the Constitution of Turkey (so amended in 2004).
Despite legal provisions, freedom of the press in Turkey has steadily deteriorated from 2010 onwards, with a precipitous decline following the attempted coup in July 2016. The Turkish government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has arrested hundreds of journalists, closed or taken over dozens of media outlets, and prevented journalists and their families from traveling. By some accounts, Turkey currently accounts for one-third of all journalists imprisoned around the world.
Since 2013, Freedom House ranks Turkey as "Not Free".Freedom House, Turkey 2015 Press Freedom report In 2015 Reporters Without Borders ranked Turkey at the 149th place out of over 180 countries, between Mexico and DR Congo, with a score of 44.16.Reporters Without Borders. Turkey In 2025, according to the same organisation 90% of the media is controlled by the government and Turkey ranks 159th out of 180 countries in terms freedom of press.
In the third quarter of 2015, the independent Turkish press agency Bianet recorded a strengthening of attacks on opposition media under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) interim government. Bianet's final 2015 monitoring report confirmed this trend and underlined that, once the AKP had regained a majority in parliament after the AKP interim government period, the Turkish government further intensified its pressure on the country's media.
According to Freedom House,
In 2012 and 2013 the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) ranked Turkey as the worst journalist jailer in the world (ahead of Iran and China), with 49 journalists sitting in jail in 2012 and 40 in 2013. Twitter's 2014 Transparency Report showed that Turkey filed over five times more content removal requests to Twitter than any other country in the second half of 2014, with requests rising another 150% in 2015.
During its rule since 2002 the ruling AKP has gradually expanded its control over media. Today, numerous newspapers, TV channels and internet portals dubbed as ("Partisan Media") or ("Pool Media") continue their heavy pro-government propaganda. Several media groups receive preferential treatment in exchange for AKP-friendly editorial policies. Some of these media organizations were acquired by AKP-friendly businesses or directly by Erdogan's own family through questionable funds and processes. Media not friendly to AKP, on the other hand, are threatened with intimidation, inspections and fines. These media group owners face similar threats to their other businesses. An increasing number of columnists have been fired for criticizing the AKP leadership.
The AKP leadership has been criticized by multiple journalists over the years because of censorship.
History
Regional censorship predates the establishment of the Republic of Turkey. On 15 February 1857, the Ottoman Empire issued law governing printing houses (); books first had to be shown to the governor, who forwarded them to commission for education () and the police. If no objection was made, the Sultan would then inspect them. Without censure from the Sultan books could not be legally issued.Şahhüseyinoğlu, H. Nedim. Censorship of Thought and the Press from Yesterday to Today (in Turkish). Ankara: Paragraf, 2005. . Quoted in On 24 July 1908, at the beginning of the Second Constitutional Era, censorship was lifted; however, newspapers publishing stories that were deemed a danger to interior or exterior State security were closed. Between 1909 and 1913 four journalists were killed—Hasan Fehmi, Ahmet Samim, Zeki Bey, and Hasan Tahsin (Silahçı).Ahmet Çakır (24 July 2001). Radikal (in Turkish)
Following the abolition of the Caliphate in 1924, the Sheikh Said rebellion broke out as part of the complex ethnic conflict that erupted with the creation of a secular Turkish nationalist identity that was rejected by many Kurds, who had long been loyal subjects of the Caliph. Sheikh Said, a Naqshbandi sheikh, accused Turkish nationalists of having "reduced the Caliph to the state of a parasite". The uprising was crushed brutally and martial law was imposed on 25 February 1925. Disagreement in the ruling Republican People's Party ultimately favored more hardline measures and under İsmet İnönü's leadership, the was proposed on 4 March 1925. This law granted the government unchecked powers, and had a number of consequences including the closure of all newspapers except for and (both were official or semi-official state publications). The effect was to censor any criticism of the ruling party, and socialists and communists were arrested and tried by the Independence Tribunals that were established in Ankara under the law. , , , , and were among the newspapers closed and several journalists arrested and tried at the tribunals. The tribunals also closed down the offices of opposition party on 3 June 1925, under the pretext that their openly stated support for the protection of religious customs had contributed to the Sheikh Said rebellion.
During World War II (1939–1945) many newspapers were ordered shut, including the dailies (5 times, for 5 months and 9 days), (7 times, for 2 months and 13 days), and (9 times, for 7 months and 24 days).
When the Democrat Party under Adnan Menderes came to power in 1950, censorship entered a new phase. The Press Law changed, sentences and fines were increased. Several newspapers were ordered shut, including the dailies (unlimited ban), , , and (two weeks each). In April 1960, a so-called investigation commission () was established by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. It was given the power to confiscate publications, close papers and printing houses. Anyone not following the decisions of the commission were subject to imprisonment, between one and three years.
Freedom of speech was heavily restricted after the 1980 military coup headed by General Kenan Evren. During the 1980s and 1990s, approaching the topics of secularism, minority rights (in particular the Kurdish issue), and the role of the military in politics risked reprisal."Questions and Answers: Freedom of Expression and Language Rights in Turkey", Human Rights Watch, April 2002
Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law (Law 3713), slightly amended in 1995 and later repealed, imposed three-year prison sentences for "separatist propaganda". Despite its name, the Anti-Terror Law punished many non-violent offences. Pacifists have been imprisoned under Article 8. For example, publisher Fatih Tas was prosecuted in 2002 under Article 8 at Istanbul State Security Court for translating and publishing writings by Noam Chomsky, summarizing the history of human rights violations in southeast Turkey; he was acquitted, however, in February 2002. Prominent female publisher Ayşe Nur Zarakolu, who was described by The New York Times as "[o]ne of the most relentless challengers to Turkey's press laws", was imprisoned under Article 8 four times.
Since 2011, the AKP government has increased restrictions on freedom of speech, freedom of the press and internet use, and television content, as well as the right to free assembly. It has also developed links with media groups, and used administrative and legal measures (including, in the case of Doğan Holding, a $2.5 billion tax fine) against critical media groups and critical journalists: "over the last decade the AKP has built an informal, powerful, coalition of party-affiliated businessmen and media outlets whose livelihoods depend on the political order that Erdogan is constructing. Those who resist do so at their own risk.""How Democratic Is Turkey?" Foreign Policy. 2 June 2013. . Since his time as prime minister through to his presidency Erdoğan has sought to control the press, forbidding coverage, restricting internet use and stepping up repression on journalists and media outlets.
Foreign media noted that, particularly in the early days (31 May – 2 June 2013) of the Gezi Park protests, the events attracted relatively little mainstream media coverage in Turkey, due to either government pressure on media groups' business interests or simply ideological sympathy by media outlets."Turks deprived of TV turn to Twitter for protest news". BBC News, 4 June 2013. The BBC noted that while some outlets are aligned with the AKP or are personally close to Erdoğan, "most mainstream media outlets – such as TV news channels HaberTürk and NTV, and the major centrist daily Milliyet – are loath to irritate the government because their owners' business interests at times rely on government support. All of these have tended to steer clear of covering the demonstrations." Ulusal Kanal and Halk TV provided extensive live coverage from Gezi park."Solidarity with Istanbul protesters grows in Turkey and abroad". Deutsche Welle, 1 June 2013.
Turkey's Journalists Union estimated that at least "72 journalists had been fired or forced to take leave or had resigned in the past six weeks since the start of the unrest" in late May 2013 due to pressure from the AKP government. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the Republican People's Party (CHP) party, said 64 journalists have been imprisoned and "We are now facing a new period where the media is controlled by the government and the police and where most media bosses take orders from political authorities." The government says most of the imprisoned journalists have been detained for serious crimes, like membership in an armed terrorist group, that are not related to journalism."Turkey: 72 Journalists Forced Out for Covering Protests, Union Says", The New York Times (Reuters), 23 July 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.Oray Egin (19 August 2013). "A Turkish press gag: How Erdogan is suffocating journalists". . Vocativ. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
Bianet's periodical reports on freedom of the press in Turkey published in October 2015 recorded a strengthening of attacks on the opposition media during the AKP interim government in the third quarter of 2015. Bianet recorded the censorship of 101 websites, 40 Twitter accounts, 178 news; attacks against 21 journalists, three media organs, and one printing house; civil pursuits against 28 journalists; and the six-fold increase of arrests of media representatives, with 24 journalists and 9 distributors imprisoned. The increased criminalisation of the media follows the freezing of the Kurdish peace process and the failure of AKP to obtain an outright majority at the June 2015 election and to achieve the presidentialisation of the political system. Several journalists and editors are tried for being allegedly members of unlawful organisations, linked to either Kurds or the Gülen movement, others for alleged insults to religion and to the President. In 2015, Cumhuriyet and Doğan Holding were investigated for "terror", "espionage" and "insult". On the date of Bianet's publication, 61 people, of whom 37 journalists, were convict, defendant or suspect for having insulted or personally attacked the then-PM, now-President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The European Court of Human Rights condemned Turkey for violation of the freedom of expression in the Abdurrahman Dilipak case (Sledgehammer investigation), and the Turkish Constitutional Court upheld the violation of the freedom of expression of five persons, including a journalist. RTÜK could not yet choose its president; it still warned companies five times and fined them six times. The Supreme Electoral Council ordered 65 channels twice to stop broadcasting the results of the June 2015 election before the end of the publishing ban.