The newspapers of Turkey that are only partially in Turkish will no longer have the right to publish the announcements and advertisements of state and official organizations. This particularly refers to the newspapers of national minorities (Armenians, Kurds, Greeks and Jews).

According to Ermenihaber.am, correspondent for Cumhuriyet newspaper Ayshe Yildirim has covered the topic, noting that this decision has been taken in a state of emergency and is part of the “Citizen, Speak Turkish” movement that began in Turkey in the 1920s.

 In the article entitled “Citizen, Write in Turkish”, Yilirim states that the newspapers of the minorities in Turkey also became a victim of the state of emergency.

“The announcement of new rules and regulations for the publication of official announcements and advertisements became the last step of the authorities wishing to make the press homogenous under the principle of “You are either with me, or go to hell”, but his is against the fundamental provisions of the Constitution,” writes the author.

To clarify, within the scope of this decision, the Agos, New Marmara, Zhamanak, Salom, Iho and other Armenian, Kurdish and Greek newspapers can no longer publish the announcements and advertisements of the department for housing management, advertisement agencies, various non-governmental organizations and foundations, as well as the announcements and advertisements of local self-government bodies.

The decision also extends to the English-language Hürriyet Daily News and Daily Sabah and other similar newspapers.

“With this, the authorities, which want to take care of a lot of issues at once, are making the policy of assimilation official,” writes Ayshe Yildirim.

Let us mention that Turkey had prohibited the newspapers of minorities from publishing official announcements following the coup d’etat that took place on September 12, 1980. However, on August 28, 2011, then Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyib Erdogan had promised to reinstate the right of non-Turkish newspapers.

During a meeting with the heads of communities and funds and foundations of national minorities, Erdogan had assured that legislative amendments would be made to legalize the right of foreign language newspapers to publish official announcements, but those amendments were never made.

On the contrary, upon the latest decision, the tendency to not publish official announcements and advertisements in foreign language newspapers became legal.