The honest answer is that Law No. 6112 has no article headed “complaints to RTUK”. Viewer and listener complaints are mentioned in exactly one place — Article 22 — and are directed to a viewer representative inside the broadcaster itself. RTUK’s own involvement rests on a different power: its duty to monitor and supervise.
The first step the Law creates: the viewer representative
Under Article 22/1 media service providers must appoint a viewer representative with at least ten years’ professional experience, for the purposes of establishing joint and self-regulatory mechanisms, evaluating complaints received from viewers and listeners and submitting them to the broadcasting board, and following up the outcome. The representative is announced to the public by appropriate means and notified to RTUK.
That gives the viewer a practical entitlement: every media service provider must have a viewer representative and must publicise the fact. It is the natural first addressee of a complaint.
RTUK’s power does not depend on a complaint
Under Article 37/1(e) RTUK is charged with monitoring and supervising the broadcasts of media service providers established in Turkey for compliance with the Law and with international agreements to which Turkey is a party. Article 37/1(g) allows it to install the necessary monitoring and recording systems, placing equipment in broadcasters’ studios where required, and Article 37/1(h) gives it the duty to apply sanctions where a breach is established.
RTUK can therefore examine a broadcast and sanction it even if nobody complains. A complaint is not a precondition for supervision; it is one of its triggers.
| Route | For what | Basis | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Viewer representative | Internal evaluation and self-regulation | Art. 22 | Complaint put to the broadcasting board and outcome followed up |
| Notifying RTUK | Starting supervision and sanction | Art. 37/1(e), (g), (h) | Administrative fine or measure |
| Right of reply | Untrue broadcast about you personally | Art. 18 | Your text broadcast within seven days |
| Criminal judgeship | Reply not broadcast | Art. 18/2 | Order that it be broadcast |
| Administrative court | Against the RTUK decision itself | Art. 32/9 | Annulment of the decision |
Complaint is not the right of reply
The two produce different results. A complaint aims at a sanction against the broadcaster and does not put anything on air in your favour. The right of reply is personal and puts your answer on screen.
Under Article 18/1 natural and legal persons may send a correction and reply text to the media service provider within sixty days of the broadcast where a broadcast infringes their honour and dignity or is contrary to the truth. The provider must broadcast it without any correction or addition, within seven days at the latest, at the same hour and in the same programme as the broadcast complained of.
What makes a complaint actionable
The Law prescribes no form. But a complaint that can be investigated identifies the broadcast precisely. Because undertakings must keep recordings for one year (Art. 25/1), giving the correct date and time is what allows the recording to be found.
- Name of the undertaking and the channel or frequency
- Date and time of the broadcast, to the minute
- Programme name
- A concrete description of the passage complained of
- The principle or duty you believe was breached
- Any recording, screenshot or link
On the broadcaster’s side
For an undertaking receiving a complaint, three obligations run at once: evaluation by the viewer representative (Art. 22); where a correction and reply request has been made, the seven-day broadcast period (Art. 18); and if RTUK requests the recording, delivery within ten days of notification (Art. 25/2). None of the three waits for the others.
The representative’s qualifications are covered in the viewer representative guide and retention periods in the recording guide.