Turkey’s media regulator, Friday (10/11), ordered Deutsche Welle or DW to obtain a broadcast license for its Turkish-language website.
The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK) decided on the move with a majority vote. It said the German public broadcaster must comply with Turkish licensing regulations introduced in 2019.
RTUK had previously blocked DW content in 32 languages under the dw.com domain, along with VOA Turkey. Both international broadcasters rejected orders to obtain permits, saying they could not comply with the regulations due to censorship concerns.
Since the initial ban in 2022, DW Turkey Services has used dwturkce.com and inspireminds.de to deliver news to audiences in Turkey.
Tuncay Keser, an RTUK member appointed to the board by the opposition Republican People’s Party, announced that the regulator would give DW three days to apply for a broadcast license. If not complied with, RTUK will ask the court to block domestic access to DW’s domain name, Keser said. RTUK announced DW’s three-day notice on its website on Friday.
Erkan Arikan, Head of DW’s Turkish Language Services, said the broadcaster would continue to deliver news to audiences in Turkey. “With the resources we have, we will continue to convey developments in the world, Europe, Germany and Turkey from various perspectives and with background information to our readers and viewers on various platforms, as always,” Arikan was quoted as saying by DW Turki.
The broadcaster has a case pending in Turkey’s Constitutional Court stating that the ban imposed in 2022 “violates the rights to freedom of opinion, the press, a fair trial and effective resolution.” (ka/ab)