About

What have been the major external trends that have impacted your team’s work over the past two years (market developments, changing regulatory environment, political events etc.)?

First of all, my team has been heavily involved in the legal leg of the work that has been conducted in relation to the acquisition of 21^st Century Fox and launch of Disney+, the biggest media acquisition in 2018 and 2019.

The mayoral elections in March and the repetition of the election for Istanbul have increased our workload since we are continuously advising our news team. Ratings-wise, Fox News is the number one news programme in Turkey. The moderation of the two candidates, the main opposition party CHP’s candidate Ekrem İmamoglu (now elected Mayor of Istanbul) and his competitor the ruling party AKP’s candidate Binali Yildirim, has been held by Ismail Kucukkaya, the well-known anchorman of Fox Morning News. Due to broad media coverage and public interest, there were illegal acts and attempts to defame Fox TV and our anchorman, Ismail Kucukkaya. The legal team’s workload has been increased with these developments during the election times. We have continuously advised to the legal team on regulatory restrictions, which are regulated and announced during the election periods.

Also, the economic turmoil in Turkey and devaluation of the Turkish Lira combined with the new regulation, which mandates the use of Turkish Lira has triggered an increase in the collection actions. Additionally, some of the very key agreements had to be re-negotiated and the discrepancy of the views among the parties, whether a contract would be caught by the new regulation in connection with the Protection of the Value of the Turkish Lira, increase the workload of the legal team working in relation to this new regulation. Opinions and reports were prepared, regional and global teams and executives have been informed and my team has been involved in the related re-negotiations for the related contracts.

What will be the main focus for the company in the next 12 months and how do you intend to assist with this?

Due to the relatively recent acquisition of 21^st Century Fox by The Walt Disney Company, the main focus in the next 12 months is integration of the teams and business units. As the head of legal for Turkey in both of the companies and both companies having matrix organisations, I am currently acting and will continue to be an ambassador for integration and build bridges between the businesses and teams. I will also take an active role in implementing the new strategies and targets of the new organization that aims to reflect the best of both organizations.

With the launch of Disney+, the Walt Disney Company will continue to grow globally; despite the fact that major media companies’ are in regression due to the economic turmoil in Turkey. The legal team will grow in size and will continue to maintain its close relationship with our outside legal counsels, who we see as a part of our team and family.

FOCUS ON: Freedom of the press

Whilst exercising its authority to inspect television broadcasts, the Turkish Broadcasting Authority is obliged by law to protect fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and freedom of the press. In cases where the Authority lacks oversight of these rights, the courts serve as a control mechanism for their protection. It appears that this control mechanism by the courts is needed to provide balance and secure freedom of expression and of press in the Turkish media sector.

The Turkish media sector faced some debated penalties in 2018 issued by the Authority, the courts cancelled some of these penalties and consequently precedents were set with some landmark decisions. In an October 2019 verdict, the 9th Circuit of the Ankara Administrative Court ruled that criticism, which by its nature is disturbing, is protected by the freedom of press. This ruling has set an important precedent on how the Authority should evaluate suspension penalties and fines.

The Authority had first issued a three day suspension penalty and a monetary fine to the Fox Evening News with Fatih Portakal for violating articles 8(b) and 8(ı) of Law No. 6112 during a December 2018 broadcast. The Court then cancelled these penalties and based its ruling on internationally and locally accepted basic human rights law principles.  In said programme, after presenting the news on the protests of oil prices in France, the anchorman criticised [the notion] that the right to peacefully protest in Turkey is restricted and that both public and personal opposition is oppressed by the government.

In its verdict, the court emphasized that criticism is a tool to exercise the freedom of expression; as criticism is not praise, it should be deemed natural that the expressions used while criticizing may be harsh. Thoughts that may be disliked by public authorities or by some parts of society should not be restricted as long as they do not promote violence, justify terrorism or support hatred. Freedom of expression cannot be applied only to those thoughts that are welcomed, deemed harmless and unimportant; it should at the same time be applied to those thoughts that are shocking or that create discomfort. This is needed for pluralism, toleration and broadmindedness, all of which shape democratic societies. Therefore the remarks in the Fox Evening News by Fatih Portakal has been found within the limits of freedom of expression, the penalty was cancelled and the decision of the appellate court is expected as of this date.

Following a management change in early 2019, the Authority stated that the new term plan is to focus on regulatory duties and has been working on developing sector friendly systems. As a part of this, the Authority may inspect cancelled penalties in more detail, thereby creating internal systems to prevent issuing penalties that would be deemed breaches of fundamental rights by the courts. This approach would decrease the litigation volume and costs of the Authority and the media companies, therefore lead to overall efficiency. Additionally, similar preventative and proactive approaches would bring further stability and security to the Turkish media sector, from which both the Authority and sector players would benefit.