Turkey: “Our Job is About Patience and Persistence”

As Turkey continues to slip in global press freedom rankings, women journalists face a media landscape where both press freedom and gender equality are under strain.

An IWPR debate in Istanbul last week explored the particular impact that gendered disinformation has on women in the public space as well as strategies to combat the phenomenon.

The panel of veteran women journalists was hosted by the Turkish Journalists’ Union (TGS) and brought together leading voices in the media industry.

The speakers shared candid accounts of their experiences with gendered discrimination —from newsroom gatekeeping to online harassment— and discussed how best to build solidarity and resilience.

IWPR Managing Editor Daniella Peled noted the discourse around Turkey’s 2021 withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, a major international treaty designed to protect women and girls.

“The narrative being promoted was that the convention was corrupting family values, increasing divorce rates and encouraging homosexuality, rather than preventing violence against women,” she said.

Veteran journalist Ahu Özyurt, a former Washington correspondent at CNN Türk, recounted her early years reporting in the 1990s when errors by male journalists were often excused, while women were branded as incompetent.

Today, she argued, digital platforms had amplified these gendered judgments.

“Social media has become a loudspeaker for attacks—both from the public and within the industry,” she said.

Güldenay Sonumut, who was among the core team who built Turkey's first television news channel NTV, drew on her own experience working with major Turkish and international media outlets.

She described how female journalists were constantly judged for their appearance, while male journalists rarely faced such scrutiny.

Burçin Gerçek, Ankara correspondent for AFP, recalled the incident in 2014 when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told a female journalist, “Know your place, shameless woman” during an election rally.

She shared firsthand observations of ongoing discrimination against women’s attitudes in government institutions, recounting experiences from Ankara’s ministry meetings.

“It’s important to put these issues on the table; at the end of the day, our job is about patience and persistence,” said TGS General Secretary Banu Tuna, who moderated the session.

The event also featured the launch of the Turkish edition of IWPR’s Gendered Disinformation Handbook, adapted with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherland.

The publication examines how gender-based narratives are manipulated, why this is significant, and how such disinformation can be effectively countered. From key concepts to case studies, it provides a comprehensive framework that debunks common misconceptions around gendered disinformation.