‘Not A Single One of 16,000 Complaints of Violence Heeded by RTÜK Supreme Board’

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İlhan Taşçı, a member of the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) Supreme Board from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), has posted a series of tweets regarding the violence on TVs.

Indicating that over 16 thousand complaints have been submitted to the RTÜK Supreme Board regarding the violence on radio and television in the last eight months, Taşçı has claimed that the Supreme Board has not taken a single one of these complaints into account.

Taşçı has referred to the murder of Emine Bulut by her ex-husband and the video featuring her last words, underlining that "it is both the legal duty and social responsibility of the RTÜK" to struggle against violence on TVs.

Some highlights from Taşçı's messages are as follows:

• Viewers have submitted 16 thousand 514 complaints against violence-containing broadcasts in the last eight months; however, the Supreme Board has not proposed a single one of them an item for the agenda, they have not been discussed at the board.
• It does not suffice to condemn violence against women and feminicides, every institution has to do its part sincerely.
• Of the complaints submitted by viewers to the RTÜK Communications Center about violence on screens since early January till today, "the broadcasts abetting violence or making people get used to it" have ranked first with 13 thousand 425 complaints.
• 90 percent of the complaints about violence submitted to the RTÜK Communications Center by viewers are about "TV series and movies." While 44.6 percent of these complaints have been submitted by men, 55.4 percent of the complainants are women.

'More complaints ignored, more violence on TV'

• In an environment where almost not a single day passes without violence against women and feminicides, the last example of which was, unfortunately, Emine Bulut, it is both a legal duty and a social responsibility for the RTÜK to direct its whole attention to this area.
• As long as the RTÜK overlooks the violence on TVs and complaints about this violence, the dosage of violence on screens also gradually increase. And, with the conviction and fact that they are not inspected, producers and scriptwriters increase the violence for ratings.
• Overlooking and ignoring violence on the screen means that the RTÜK denies itself as well as its mission. It is a legal, humane and conscientious responsibility to make the screens free from violence. It is also what society expects from the RTÜK.

RTÜK Chair: Complaints are regularly evaluated

In response to the above messages of İlhan Taşçı, RTÜK Chair Ebubekir Şahin has spoken to Fundanur Öztürk from BBC Türkçe, indicating that complaints about violence on radio and television channels are regularly evaluated by the Supreme Board of the RTÜK.

"We can in no way tolerate violence against women on the screen", Şahin has stated and added that the RTÜK also gives penalties to pro-government channels such as the ATV for the violence on their series.

"There is a false perception of 'Channels thought to be close to the government are not punished.' Even seeing that people think so makes me sad", he has indicated further. (EKN/SD)