The US broadcaster Voice of America is also affected – the ban has been threatened for a long time. In Turkey there is hardly any media independent of the Islamic conservative government.
According to the Turkish broadcasting supervisory authority (RTÜK), the Internet services of Deutsche Welle (DW) and the US foreign broadcaster Voice of America have been blocked in Turkey.
RTÜK chairman Ilhan Tasci wrote on Twitter on Friday night that access to the two channels that had not applied for a license had been blocked by a court at the request of his authority. Voice of America confirmed the suspension of the two channels’ Turkish-language services. An official statement from DW was initially not available. On Thursday evening, there were already problems accessing DW’s website.
The German foreign broadcaster and other foreign media have been threatened with a blocking of their online programs in Turkey since February. RTÜK had officially asked the broadcasters to apply for a license for on-demand offers. Deutsche Welle then announced that it would take legal action against it.
The request to apply for a license is based on a regulation that came into force in 2019. The Islamic conservative government has introduced far-reaching controls over Internet platforms that distribute films, videos or radio content. Representatives close to the government have a majority in the RTÜK body.
Turkish media are largely under the direct or indirect control of the Islamic conservative government, and content on the Internet is also subject to strict regulation.
