# Emergency decrees close media outlets after the coup attempt

Date: 2016

On 27 July 2016, during the state of emergency declared after the failed coup attempt, Emergency Decree 668 ordered the closure of a large group of media and publishing organizations. Human Rights Watch reported the shutdown of 131 outlets and described the measure as including 45 newspapers, 16 television stations, 23 radio stations, 15 magazines, three news agencies and 29 publishing houses. The decree operated through emergency authority rather than ordinary case-by-case licensing proceedings. Human Rights Watch also documented detentions and arrest warrants affecting journalists in the same period, while a later HRW report placed the closures inside a broader pattern of pressure on critical journalism. This fact is limited to the 27 July closure measure and the institutions identified in the contemporary reporting. It does not assume that every listed outlet had the same editorial position or that every separate post-coup prosecution was legally identical. The closures removed publishing capacity at a stroke, by executive decree, during the post-coup crackdown.

## People

- Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: https://factrail.ai/people/recep-tayyip-erdogan

## Drivers

- Media Freedom: https://factrail.ai/drivers/media-freedom

## Sources

- https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/12/15/silencing-turkeys-media/governments-deepening-assault-critical-journalism
- https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/07/28/turkey-media-shut-down-journalists-detained

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/tr-media-closures-emergency-2016