Evrensel will not bow down to you!

We left 2020 behind with the ongoing decision by the Press Advertising Agency demanding that Evrensel “stop advertisements”. And we have welcomed the year 2021 with a penalty on our shoulders, given to our newspaper for the video of  Evrensel’s 25th birthday celebration, broadcasted on the TELE1 channel.

As some may remember, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), citing this advertisement as a reason, decided to impose an administrative fine of the highest level onto TELE1 for allegedly “praising and encouraging terrorism, and justifying or empowering terrorist organisations”.

The penalty against us was imposed by the Ministry of Trade Consumer Protection and the General Directorate of Market Surveillance.

The video in question is 45 seconds in total. The image causing the penalty is two seconds. The penalty is 20,953 Turkish Liras (£2,080/$2,835)

The reason for the penalty was for the “violation of Article 61 of the Law No. 6502 in your organisation’s television advertisement.”

It continued: “In the advertisement ‘the voice of millions being tested with hunger in face of cuts, who want to live humanely!’ of your organisation on the television channel with the logo ‘TELE1’ on 08.07.2020, there are images of a girl holding a piece of cloth, symbolising a terrorist organisation. This case includes elements that condone, encourage and support illegal behaviors. Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices Regulation Article 5/c states that ‘adverts cannot contain elements that disturb public order, cause violent acts and illegal or condemned behaviors, nor condone, encourage or support these behaviors.’ …”

The decision continued to list justifications

The image in question is a photograph of a girl holding a shawl consisting of yellow, red and green colors at the 2015 Newroz celebrations. As mentioned, this video is 45 seconds and this photo is seen for only two seconds.

That two-second photograph was first used as justification for the silencing operation against the channel TELE1, which the government systematically targeted for not abiding by the government’s broadcasts, and now it is being used as justification for a fine that supports the government’s financial encirclement agenda against Evrensel.

The criminal argument that the government has produced this time through the relevant department of the Ministry of Trade Consumer Protection is both tragic on one hand and tragicomic on the other.

And to repeat: There is no symbol of any organisation in the shawl made of a pattern of yellow, red and green colors held by the girl in the photograph. If there is, then prove it. Why haven’t you shown a single piece of evidence on this subject so far?

If you feel that the colours of the Kurdish people, which are used not only in Turkey, but on flags and accessories at Newroz celebrations everywhere, carries “divisive” connotations, then that reveals a problem with your perception.

Such a perception has become a tragicomic joke in Turkey’s troubled recent history.

On August 5, 1914, the world’s first electric traffic light was installed in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Unlike today, the traffic light system at that time consisted of red and green.

Traffic lights, which began to be used with three colours over time, spread rapidly in the big cities of the world, and were installed in New York, Paris and Berlin in the 1920s. The first traffic lights in Turkey were placed in İstanbul in 1929.

In the 1990’s, when conflicts escalated around the Kurdish problem in Turkey, the traffic lights in the southeastern city Batman were disabled for supposedly using “separatist colours” and replaced with only red and green lights.

Thirty years later, the same mindset is still in place.

Are Newroz rallies not legal in this country? Is there a ban on those shawls used in the rallies? We have not heard of any law that says those shawls represent an organisation, please enlighten us - which law is it?

Of course, Evrensel will not bow down to this ridiculous and unjustified punishment. We will take legislative action and follow all procedures.

And we will continue to publish in line with our beliefs based on the brotherhood of the peoples and the right to information, without making any compromises. This is your problem, not ours!