Politically Driven Regulations and Enforcement: Monitoring Kurd and Fundamentalist Broadcasts in Turkey

Abstract

This article examines the policy of monitoring private broadcast contents in Turkey from 1993 to 2002. In general, the policy aimed to regulate the growing number of private stations that operated almost free of government control and to protect the public from the negative effects of private broadcasts. Implementation nonetheless attempted to prevent and reduce Kurd separatist and Muslim fundamentalist broadcasts. These broadcasts were often found in violation of national unity and the secular constitutional order of the state. The article sheds light on specific bureaucratic mechanisms that enabled politically driven regulation and enforcement in monitoring broadcast contents.