Turkey rejects German TV channel allegations

ANKARA

A Turkish government minister used his “right of interview authorization” during a German TV interview when he realized the interviewer had “lost his impartiality”, a spokesman said Thursday.

The Foreign Ministry stepped into a media freedom row stemming from Youth and Sports Minister Akif Cagatay Kilic’s Monday night interview with broadcaster Deutsche Welle. At the end of the interview, staff from Kilic’s ministry took the recording.

Tanju Bilgic, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Kilic had responded to interviewer Michel Friedman’s questions on recent developments in Turkey such as the July 15 coup attempt.

However, after the interview Kilic asked for the footage not to be aired and exercised his right to refuse authorization, Bilgic told Anadolu Agency.

Under German Federation of Journalists rules, interviewees have the right to authorize interviews. According to an online Deutsche Welle article, an interview with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble by the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper in January took 66 hours for his press advisers to authorize.

Such authorization is allowed as the interviewee has technically co-authored the copy but must be limited to factual or linguistic correction, according to the federation.

“The minister took a decision to use his authorization for the interview after the person who carried out the interview lost his impartiality and made accusations against him,” Bilgic said.

The spokesman rejected accusations that the recording had been confiscated or that force had been used against journalists.

Germany's ambassador to Ankara, Martin Erdmann, had made direct contact with the Youth and Sports Ministry about the incident, Bilgic added. The ministry has already issued a statement saying the allegations that the footage had been confiscated “did not reflect the truth”.