Notes on the public sphere on a national and post-national axis

Abstract

Since Turkey became a candidate for the European Union in 1999, democratic rights and freedom of expression have been key issues in discourses surrounding EU—Turkey relations. Discussions on these questions often centre on state censorship and legislative constraints. The role of the media themselves, however, and the deeply-ingrained elements and historically-contingent norms and practices within public culture that shape the public sphere, have received a significantly lower level of attention. Despite recent legislative changes towards greater freedom of expression, major hurdles that limit democratic rights and freedoms persist in practice, as highlighted by the judicial trial (and the subsequent murder in January 2007) of the Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink. The police raid of Nokta magazine in 2007 is another case in point. The purpose of this article is to discuss current questions related with freedom of expression and tolerance of diversity in the Turkish media based on in-depth interviews with journalists and with the Dink and Nokta cases as examples; and to offer critical reflections on the public sphere in Turkey in its current state.