CPJ joins call for Turkey to restore Açık Radyo’s broadcast license

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 63 press freedom and human rights organizations, media outlets, and NGOs in an October 18 joint statement condemning Turkey’s media regulator RTÜK for canceling independent Açık Radyo‘s (The Open Radio) broadcast license as an act of censorship.

In May, RTÜK fined and issued a gag order after the outlet mentioned the mass killings of Armenians under Ottoman rule in 1915, which Turkey refuses to recognize as genocide as the successor of the Ottoman Empire. RTÜK canceled the outlet’s license in early July when the outlet continued to broadcast. The matter went to court while the outlet remained on air, but Açık Radyo announced the final cancellation in an October 11 statement.

“The decision by Turkey’s broadcast regulator to revoke Açık Radyo’s license has significant implications for media freedom and public access to information,” the Friday statement said. The signatories asked RTÜK to restore Açık Radyo’s broadcasting license and “cease its censorship of critical and independent outlets.”

Read the joint statement here.