ISTANBUL (SCF) — Açık Radyo (Open Radio), whose broadcasts were silenced in October 2024 by Turkish authorities after a guest spoke on air about Armenian genocide, has taken its legal challenge against the cancellation of its license to Turkey’s highest administrative court after lower courts rejected its appeals, Turkish Minute reported.
The İstanbul-based station and its legal team announced on Tuesday, March 31, that both cases they filed against the decision have been escalated to the Council of State, marking the latest stage in a nearly two-year legal battle.
Speaking at a press conference in İstanbul’s Beyoğlu district, representatives of the station said the case should not be seen as an isolated administrative measure but as a “critical threshold” for freedom of expression, media freedom and the rule of law in Turkey.
“This is not only a matter concerning one institution,” they said, describing the process as a structural problem affecting all independent media outlets in the country.
In a press statement the station argued that imposing harsh sanctions over expressions that have been recognized as protected speech by both national and international court rulings creates a chilling effect on the media and restricts freedom of expression.
The controversy stems from a broadcast in April 2024, when a guest referred to the mass killings of Armenians during the late Ottoman period, using the term Armenian genocide.
