(with Nacho Sánchez Amor) Turkey’s ‘disinformation’ law and access process

Host: Cansu Çamlıbel | Guest: MEP Nacho Sánchez Amor


In this thirty-first episode, host Cansu Çamlıbel invites Nacho
Sánchez Amor, the European Parliament's rapporteur on Turkey, to
discuss Turkey’s newly adopted “disinformation” law and its
potential ramifications as well as the systemic impediments to
Turkey’s becoming a mature democracy and the European Union’s
role in assessing the progress of Turkey in the European Union
accession process.


Çamlıbel highlighted the law’s lack of definition of “deceptive
information” as a key problem. As the task of defining
“disinformation” in each case falls upon an individual judge,
given the lack of judicial independence in Turkey, the
government’s arbitrary power to criminalize critical speech is
likely to increase. In response, Amor stated that “the problem is
the whole complete environment that has been designed to
prosecute criticism”, with the “disinformation” law being
“another turn of the screw of the authoritarian trend in Turkey”.


Topics covered in this podcast include:


The systematic efforts of the Turkish government to silence
criticism in the country

The “disinformation” law adopted by the Turkish parliament on
October 13, 2022

The Turkish government’s interference in the private
communication of citizens

The lack of independence of Turkey’s judiciary and its
impediment of the country’s progress towards EU accession

The EU’s role in assessing Turkey’s progress towards EU
membership



This content was produced with the financial support of the
European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of IPI
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.