Evrensel’s lawsuit against the Press Advertisement Agency to be heard on 28 November

The lawyer of Evrensel newspaper, Devrim Avcı, spoke before the trial scheduled for November 28: "BİK has turned out to be one of the obstacles to the freedom of the press. It has rejected all the objections raised. After this trial, we hope that the judiciary will be on the side of the press and freedom of expression, as well as the public's right to information."

"OUR ADVERTISING RIGHTS CANCELLED"

The first hearing of the lawsuit filed by Evrensel Newspaper against the cancellation of its right to publish official announcements and advertisements by the Press Advertisement Agency will be held on November 28 at 10:05 a.m. at the Istanbul 2nd Administrative Court. The lawsuit, filed on December 13, 2022, seeks the annulment of the administrative decision to cancel the newspaper's right to publish official announcements and advertisements and the suspension of its execution. The case is expected to set a precedent.

The Press Advertisement Agency (BİK) unlawfully cancelled our newspaper Evrensel's right to publish official announcements and advertisements in September 2019, alleging irregularities such as readers buying more than one newspaper from vendors and improper maintenance of subscription records. Despite numerous appeals by Evrensel, no solution was found. On August 22, 2022, BİK once again cancelled the publishing rights of the newspaper's advertisements and announcements.

Following the cancellation decision, Evrensel appealed twice to the Press Advertisement Agency to have the decision revoked, but BİK's General Directorate rejected the appeals, claiming that "no new positive information or documents have been submitted that would eliminate the newspaper's violation."

"UNEQUAL TREATMENT OF ALL NEWSPAPERS"

Lawyer Devrim Avcı, who stressed that the court case will set a precedent, recalled the reasons for the cancellation decision: "BİK claimed that buying more than one newspaper was a 'crime'. In other words, they argued that you cannot buy newspapers for your neighbour, spouse, or friend. Not satisfied with this, they imposed a 'penalty' by saying that 'İzelman, which is affiliated with the Labour Party and the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, does not have the status of a final retailer'. However, these institutions were never the final dealers. Moreover, not all newspapers were treated equally. For example, the decision in favour of Evrensel was not even investigated for newspapers such as Aydınlık, Karar, Analiz, and Türkgün. They did not even investigate whether these newspapers were bought individually from the distributors and how many subscribers they had."

"A COMPLETE EXAMPLE OF ILLEGALITY"

Avcı pointed out that the Press Advertisement Agency has contradicted itself, which is against the law. He cited decisions related to freedom of the press, such as those in the Constitution, the European Court of Human Rights, and the pilot decision of the Constitutional Court: "There are articles in the Constitution relating to freedom of the press and freedom of expression. There are decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on freedom of the press. There is also a pilot decision of the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court stated: 'It can be seen that the acts that require official announcement and publication, which reduce the penalties for the applicants, do not have a rule with the clarity and certainty that at least outlines the acts that require the penalty and the amount of the penalty provided for these acts. The power to determine the principles of press ethics is left entirely to the administration... It is incompatible with the guarantee of Article 13 of the Constitution, which stipulates that "fundamental rights and freedoms may be restricted only by law." In view of all this, it is clear that BİK's decisions are a complete example of illegality."

Lawyer Avcı said that the lawsuit between the Press Advertisement Agency and Evrensel sets a precedent and said, "After this trial, we hope that the judiciary will be on the side of the press and freedom of expression, as well as the public's right to information."

"THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO INFORMATION IS BLOCKED"

Avcı emphasized that this situation is primarily hindering freedom of expression and targeting Evrensel for its critical style of journalism, thus obstructing press freedom: "Why are they trying to put pressure on Evrensel? Because Evrensel has a fundamental basis. This is the widespread coverage and awareness of workers and labor news, workers' actions, general strikes and workers' demands, which are not present in any other newspaper... It also openly criticizes and exposes the wrongdoings and illegal practices of the government. They are uncomfortable with this, so they impose a financial sanction on Evrensel. On the one hand, the financial sanction means 'we do not want this news to be made'. It also hinders the public's right to information." (EVRENSEL DAILY)