Press card of veteran Turkish journalist revoked over "national security concerns"

Tugrul Eryilmaz, a journalist who has been actively involved in journalism for 47 years, said that his press card was revoked by the Turkish Presidency Communications Directorate.

Eryilmaz was notified of the decision through a letter sent to him by the Directorate, who told him that the decision to revoke the card was taken on grounds of the second paragraph of article 25 of the press card regulation.

The paragraph states that a press card is revoked in case the owner has been "involved in activities against national security and public order", or if the owner has "provided support for such activities."

Eryilmaz said, "This is where words fail," in his T24 column.

About Tugrul Eryilmaz

Eryilmaz obtained a press card for the first time after he started working for the public broadcaster TRT in 1975.

He quit his job at TRT in 1980, following the 12 September military coup d'etat that instantly took over control of the public broadcaster and turned it into the main communication channel of the military administration.

He worked for various publications in the following decades, serving as the editor-in-chief of weekly news magazines Haftalik and Nokta, arts and culture magazine Milliyet Sanat, weekly newspaper Radikal 2, and daily Yeni Gundem.