...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important...threatened
In a circular posted Saturday on the Official Gazette, Erdogan said the decision aims to eliminate the harmful effects of television programs with foreign content that have been adapted in
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
and to protect
All precautions would be taken against productions that negatively affect the family, children and youth, through
Turkey's media watchdog, the Supreme Council of Radio and Television, already has wide-ranging powers, and can fine media or order temporary blackouts for television channels that are mostly critical of the government for violating
Ilhan Tasci, a member of the media watchdog from the main opposition party, called the move "the censorship circular'' and said it violates the constitution that promises to protect press freedom.
The majority of media companies in Turkey are already owned by businesses close to the conservative and nationalist government and closely follow government lines.
Reporters Without Borders ranks Turkey at 153 out of 180 countries in its World Press Freedom Index of 2021. At least 34 media employees are currently behind bars, according to Turkey's Journalists Union.
Critics said it was another bid to crackdown on freedom of speech in the run-up to elections next year.
Faruk Bildirici, veteran journalist and media ombudsman, on Twitter, accused Erdogan of declaring a "state of emergency against the media".
Rights groups routinely accuse Turkey of undermining media freedom by arresting journalists and shutting down critical media outlets, especially since Erdogan survived a failed coup attempt in July 2016.
INFLATION ANGER
In an earlier decree on Saturday, Erdogan sacked state statistics agency chief Sait Erdal Dincer.
It was just the latest in a series of economic dismissals by Erdogan, who has fired three central bank governors since July 2019.
Erdogan has railed against high-interest rates, which he believes cause inflation -- the exact opposition of conventional economic thinking.
The 2021 inflation figure of 36.1 percent released by Dincer angered both the pro-government and opposition camps.
The opposition said the number was underreported, claiming that the real cost of living increases was at least twice as high.
Erdogan meanwhile reportedly criticised the statistics agency in private for publishing data that he felt overstated the scale of Turkey's economic malaise.
Dincer seemed to sense his impending fate.
"I sit in this office now, tomorrow it will be someone else," he said in an interview with the business newspaper Dunya earlier this month.
"Never mind who is the chairman. Can you imagine that hundreds of my colleagues could stomach or remain quiet about publishing an inflation rate very different from what they had established?"
Erdogan did not explain his decision to appoint Erhan Cetinkaya, who had served as vice-chair of Turkey's banking regulator, as the new state statistics chief.
"This will just increase concern about the reliability of the data, in addition to major concerns about economic policy settings," Timothy Ash of BlueBay Asset Management said in a note to clients.
The agency is due to publish January's inflation data on February 3.