Abstract
In this paper, I offer the first systematic analysis of decisions made by the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) in Turkey —the key state institution that monitors media contents, fines, and prisons individuals and agents when their expressions damage "public morality." Turkey offers a critical case to understand the regulations of morality for several reasons. Turkey's democracy has declined drastically since 2007, offering a critical case to explore how democratic backsliding occurs, affects different minority groups, and the opposition is marginalized. Turkey has been ruled by a populist, authoritarian pro-Islamic party, enabling us to question how religious parties use their political dominance through ostensibly innocuous mechanisms and institutions. By analyzing the RTUK's, decisions between 1994-2021 ( over 10,000 decisions), I explain why and how (i) the state uses its regulatory power for censorship, (ii) a pro-Islamic party manages the morality of the public space, and (iii) religious, sexual orientations and ethnic groups are marginalized under authoritarian regimes.
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