Journalists in Turkey, attempting to document or comment on the aftermath of a series of severe earthquakes that began on February 6, are facing both the hanging threat of government abuse and attacks from devastated earthquake victims, robbers, and assorted militias, multiple reports revealed on Tuesday.
Eastern Turkey, home to the majority of the nation’s Kurdish population, and Northwest Syria experienced a 7.7-magnitude earthquake in the early morning hours of February 6, followed by a series of aftershocks, some reaching 7.6 magnitude, that exacerbated the destruction. On Monday, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake occurred in the same region, now littered with miles of rubble, homeless tent communities, and makeshift hospitals.
The death toll stands at upwards of 46,000 people at press time. Untold numbers remain missing in the piles of debris that used to be, in many cases, “luxury” high-rises and other densely populated buildings. Unrest and anger towards the government of Islamist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has escalated among earthquake victims as engineers and other experts point to Erdogan’s poor enforcement of building safety codes as a main driver of the full collapse of entire neighborhoods. Erdogan issued a real estate developer “amnesty” in 2018 that allowed developers guilty of constructing unsafe and illegal buildings to avoid repairing their structures if they paid a nominal fine to the government.
“According to official estimates, 6,000 to 7,000 buildings collapsed on Monday. However strong, no earthquake could have caused this much damage if all buildings were up to standard,” civil engineer and Turkish Earthquake Retrofit Association President Sinan Turkkan told Qatar’s Al Jazeera in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Responding to that anger, the Turkish government has arrested over 130 people in the real estate industry in connection to avoidable earthquake damage. It has also begun silencing dissent, however, detaining citizens for allegedly “provocative posts” online.
Ankara launched a “Disinformation Reporting Service” on February 7, the day after the earthquake, to help pro-regime citizens document posts on social media and in the news that they would like the government to silence.
“We are closely monitoring those who are trying to polarise the nation through false news,” Erdogan said in a public statement that day, “and our prosecutors will do what is necessary against those who aim to incite social chaos through disinformation and fake news.”
Speaking to the Middle East outlet the Media Line in a report published Tuesday, Turkish journalist Murat Yildiz described difficult working conditions on the ground in which government officials monitor journalists’ behavior strictly and discourage much independent investigation.
“They were constantly harassing us, following us,” he explained, referring to government agents. “They come and check your notes … they want to check your photos.”
The international press freedom association Reporters Without Borders (RSF) similarly documented “obstruction and harassment” by the government last week.
“The press freedom violations monitored by RSF since the earthquake have included physical violence, arrests, judicial proceedings, online attacks and restrictions on access to Twitter,” RSF Turkey representative Erol Önderoğlu said last week. “Journalists have been accused of ‘defaming the police or the state.’ Attempts to control the disaster narrative and coverage of the response by the authorities are becoming more and more visible.”
Önderoğlu noted multiple cases of reporters arrested on “spurious grounds” while attempting to cover the earthquake. Some were not arrested, but privately intimidated by local police officials. In one case – a reporter identified as television journalist Ferit Demir – the journalists was kicked and beaten by police while attempting to document the damage caused by the earthquakes.
Speaking to the Media Line this week, Önderoğlu expressed less concern about the government than about roving militias and angry earthquake victims. Önderoğlu actively credited the Erdogan government with expanding access to disaster sites in the past week, potentially to more easily allow the world to see the true level of destruction and respond with emergency funds accordingly.
“I cannot say we faced a systematic crackdown on media professionals since many problems have been resolved with the support of communication officials and some order has been spread on the ground in order to facilitate the work of journalists,” he conceded.
“Önderoğlu warned that violations of press freedom continue, however, which may suggest the government will eventually increase its already tight control of the media,” Media Line noted. “This is especially the case as the country is set to gear up for national elections in the spring, although there are suggestions they could be delayed.”
The Erdogan government has focused not just on journalists on the ground in the disaster zone, targeting those critical of its officials. The Turkish Diyanet – its “Religious Affairs Directorate” – filed a criminal complaint on Monday against a journalist for calling its members “perverts.”
Fatih Altaylı was responding angrily to the Diyanet publishing a fatwa following the earthquake reminding Turks that “Islam did not prohibit marriage between the adopter and adoptee,” according to the Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF), an organization run by persecuted Turkish journalists. The Turkish government is struggling to identify, offer medical attention to, and house a growing number of children, including nearly a dozen infants, found in the rubble and presumably orphaned.
“[Mustafa Kemal] Atatürk established the directorate so people could have access to religious services and knowledge, but it has been tarnished by perverts,” Altaylı wrote on Twitter, condemning the fatwa and resulting in a criminal complaint for “inciting public hatred against the directorate.”
On the ground, civilians in earthquake-damaged areas have become a growing concern for reporters, Kenan Şener, Secretary General of the Ankara Journalists Association (GCD), said on Tuesday in an interview with the International Federation of Journalist (IFJ).
“Journalists have reported being hindered in their work, some were detained, threatened, and physically assaulted. Safety is a growing problem,” Şener explained. “In some provinces, attacks on journalists by security guards, angry earthquake victims, extortion groups, robbery gangs and unidentified groups are increasing. There are reports of journalists being extorted at gunpoint.”
Another journalist speaking to the Media Line, Gürkan Özturan of the European Centre for Press & Media Freedom, told the outlet that his group had documented 19 journalists facing “violent attacks” in one day, February 11. Some of those attacks were attributed to civilians outraged about their state of affairs.