Press Advertising Agency (BIK), imposed a 5-day public advertising ban on Evrensel for Ceren Sözeri's article

While the advertising embargo of the Press Advertising Agency against Evrensel newspaper has been going on for months, the penalties for advertisement do not slow down. Our newspaper was sentenced to cut out advertisements for 5 more days because columnist Ceren Sözeri used the statement “attack” against the police in her article published on 14 March 2021, titled “Motherland made history but people cannot breathe"

Our colomnist Ceren Sözeri asked, "If the legislative, executive and judiciary are under the protection of BIK, how will journalism be done if the criticism of these three powers will be subject to sanctions? Who will ensure freedom of expression? ".

Ceren Sözeri also wrote an article titled "Press Advertisements and Discipline Institution" in which she evaluated the penalty.

5 DAYS OF PENALTY FOR THE USE OF THE WORD “ATTACK”

Our newspaper Evrensel, has been imposed with advertising bans since September 2019, and has been punished once again. This time, columnist Ceren Sözeri’s article titled “Motherland made history but people cannot breathe". “In a peaceful protest where social distance rules are followed, the police attacked the heads of the bar associations without following the rules of social distancing, assaulted them, and sprayed tear gas on them when their lungs were most needed.
“BIK sentenced our newspaper to cut out advertisements for 5 days for the use of the word "attack" in the article used against the police force. In the penalty given by the The Press Advertising Agency it did accept that the article was telling what happened in Turkey during the pandemic process, but because of the attack statement in only one sentence, it said, “It has been seen that it has the purpose of making the fight against crime ineffective by damaging the police forces reputation in this way ”. Even if the Press Advertising Agency stated that "the press has the right and the authority to inform, and make evaluations when necessary, it is accepted without hesitation in the doctrine and in practice that it is within the limits of the freedom of expression and expression of the press unless it makes unjust accusations and does not insult" did not stop them imposing a further public advertising ban.

AVCI: BIK PUTS ITSELF IN JUDICIAL JUDGEMENT

Evaluating the public advertising ban, our newspaper's lawyer, Devrim Avcı, said, "The penalty for cutting out the official advertisement in question is related to Ceren Sözeri's column this time. Ceren Sözeri wrote an article based on the report on journalists in the pandemic. However, because there was only one word "attack" in the whole article, the Press Advertising Agency again gave us a 5-day suspension. Again, we will make the necessary objections against this through legal means, ” he said. BIK itself started to make decisions by replacing the judicial mechanism, Avcı said, “This situation is an extremely troublesome situation in terms of freedom of press and expression. Although the Constitutional Court had a decision in recent months stating that the BIK's penalty for imposing advertising bans is an intervention on freedom of expression, BIK continues to apply its repressive attitude without waiting for the conclusion of many applications on this matter. BIK continues to put itself in the place of the judicial mechanism.

DRIVE OR INCENTED TO A CRIME!

In it’s decision BIK stated: “The statement in the column of the Daily Evrensel newspaper goes beyond the limits of the freedom of reporting and expression of the press mentioned above,‘Journalism, which is a public service, cannot be used for personal or immoral purposes and interests and cannot be used contrary to the public interest. In the news and the interpretation of events, it cannot be deviated from the facts by distortion, distortion or abbreviation. News whose accuracy may raise suspicion and whose research is within the possibilities of journalism cannot be published without being investigated and being sure of its accuracy ”; "No publication can be made that will incite crime and render the fight against crime ineffective", "It will encourage violence and terrorism; No publications can be made that would render the fight against drugs and all kinds of organization crimes ineffective" and “Insulting words that go beyond the limits of criticism cannot be used in publications intended for individuals, institutions and social layers; It has been concluded that it violates the clauses (c), (d) and (ı) of the same article as well as article 1 of the General Assembly resolution number 129 on Press Ethics Principles, stating that it cannot be an insult, libelous and unjust allegation. "

The penalties given by the Press Advertising Agency (BIK), which has already applied an advertising embargo on our newspaper, the penalties imposed by the BIK for Evrensel have reached 103 days. (EVRENSEL DAILY)