Draconian law looms before Turkey’s 2023 presidential elections
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Ignoring high opposing voices, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems adamant to go ahead with his party’s proposed so-called the law to criminalize “disinformation”.
On October 13, the Turkish Parliament passed the debatable “disinformation and fake news” law criminalizing disinformation.
Observers see the step as the first preparation by the Turkish President to censor media outlets in the run-up to the 2023 Presidential Elections in which Erdogan’s chances are looming ones owing, among others, to the dilapidated Turkish economy.
Erdogan has much blame put on his shoulders due to the “wrong trends” of the policies his Justice and Development Party (AKP) led-government has adopted since a decade in Syria and elsewhere.
The new legislation consists of 40 articles amending several laws, including the Internet Law, the Press Law, and the Turkish Penal Code all under security and protecting the country. Notoriously and ironically, those disseminating “fake” news under false names could face longer terms in prison.
Article 29 of the law says, “Those who spread false information about Turkey’s security to create fear and disturb public order will receive a prison sentence of one to three years.”
However, the law has been decried at home and abroad as it is seen as a measure to stifle government critics and journalists amid growing criticism in the run-up to elections. If convicted, people could face jail terms for up to three years if found guilty.
What is bewildering however, are the criteria by which fake news could be distinguished from true news at a time media is largely depending on social media outlets by people and professionals in the media arena. The law seems a polysemous one in the sense it could be cited against every one not courting the government’s policies.
The law was proposed by Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), under the pretext of regulating online publications, protect the country and combat disinformation.
However, this is not the sole reality in the country. After the law was passed, the main opposition party Republican People’s Party (CHP) said the legislation amounts to unprecedented censorship.
Opposing such a bill, the Turkish lawmaker Burak Erbay smashed a phone with a hammer during a speech in parliament.
“You have only one freedom left, the smartphone in your pocket which has Instagram, Facebook, YouTube which you can communicate with. If the law passes the parliament, you can break your phones and throw them away like this—my young brothers and sisters,” Erbay warned the Turks as he smashed a phone with a hammer.
The new law has its foundations in 2020 when the government adopted a law requiring social media companies to station a representative in Turkey to handle requests to block and take down specific content. After initial rejections, Facebook, as Meta was then known, appointed the required representative.
Following the 2016 military coup a large number of journalists and people were arrested in the country on charges similar to the ones introduced by the new law.
“This has been the final stop in a long process, in Erdogan’s effort to control public speech,” Emre Kizilkaya, the vice chair of the International Press Institute, a media freedom group based in Vienna, told The Wall Street Journal. “It’s another step in Erdogan’s Putin-ization,” referring to President Vladimir Putin’s control over media in Russia.
In retrospect, nearly a century ago, and after the new Republic of Turkey which survived the decrepit Ottoman Empire, came into being, similar and many draconian laws and changes were introduced to the Turkish society, including the ones on language, clothes family names and others, that had everlasting repercussions on people and society.
However, the new law is still to be approved by Erdogan amid disregard to loud differing views.