A large number of journalists, including the members of the Evrensel Newspaper, who have been waiting for the response of renewal applications for a long time, learned that their press cards were revoked.
According to the news published by daily Evrensel, Sultan Özer’s who owns a permanent press card and who used to serve for the Press Card Commission, Evrensel Daily’s Editor-in-Chief Fatih Polat’s and permanent press card holder Fevzi Argun’s press cards are cancelled. Turkey Journalists’ Union (TGS) Chairman and Deputy News Editor of the Evrensel Newspaper Gökhan Durmuş’s press card is among those which are canceled with no justification.
In addition, the press cards of Editor-in-Chief Şengül Karadağ Bayhan, who became the news editor after the duty of being the responsible manager Vural Nasuhbeyoğlu, Görkem Kınacı, Şükrü Taş, photo reporter Sevil Atar and reporters Şerif Karataş, Derya Dursun, Ercüment Akdeniz, Elif Ekin Saltık, Elif Görgü, Emine Uyar, Mehmet Özer, Özer Akdemir and writer Erol Aral were also canceled. The number of journalists’ whose press cards were canceled and the official reason for the cancellation is unknown.
Following the news on the cancellation decision, it was learned that the press cards of journalists were restored on 27 January 2020.
With the regulation criticized by many journalists and journalism organizations, the Press Cards Commission was linked to the Presidency of Communication Presidency. Press cards enables journalists to access information and are required for journalists to use their professional rights.
