"So we are now coming to the end... We thank all the listeners and all the people who have supported us. Açik Radyo will remain open to all the voices, all the colors and all the stirrings of the universe," said 79-year-old Ömer Madra on the air on Açik Radyo ("open" or "free" radio) on Wednesday, October 16. That was the highly emotional way that the station's founder ended his last broadcast, after 29 years on the air, live from the modest studios set up in a cul-de-sac in the Tophane district of Beyoglu, in the heart of Istanbul.
The staff of this independent station, whose committed, progressive and multicultural editorial line made it a showcase for the melting pot of Istanbul, were fined and banned from broadcasting for five days on May 22 by the Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK). Since then, Açik Radyo's team had been awaiting the dates of the suspension.
However, these details could not be received due to a "technical problem" with RTÜK's messaging system, the radio team explained in a press release. In the absence of an effective application of the five-day broadcasting suspension, the RTÜK considered that the radio station had committed an additional infringement of its directives, thereby justifying the cancellation of the station's broadcasting license, which had been on the airwaves since 1995.
The punishment came after a morning broadcast on April 24, the anniversary of the beginning of the 1915 mass deportation of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire. "This year marks the 109th anniversary of the deportations and massacres, described by some as 'genocide,' which took place in Ottoman lands. As you know, the commemoration of the Armenian genocide has also been banned this year," explained Cengiz Aktar, an intellectual known for his stance on the issue.
RTÜK had deemed the use of the words "Armenian genocide" to be "incitement to hatred," referring to article 216 of the Turkish penal code. Although the political atmosphere allowed academic debates on the nature of the events of 1915 to be revived in the early 2010s, the spaces in which freedom of expression is exercised have been drastically reduced with the rise of authoritarianism that followed the coup attempt of July 15, 2016.
"The question of the interpretation of the events of 1915 and the qualification of 'genocide' has always been the subject of controversy in Turkey, but since the death of Hrant Dink [Turkish journalist of Armenian origin murdered in 2007], it has been part of the debate and falls within the framework of freedom of expression," said Ilksen Mavituna, 38, program coordinator at Açik Radyo and a member of the team for 20 years.
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