Yes. Online news sites are regulated in a part of the Regulation on Official Announcements and Advertisements separate from newspapers, with their own categories, their own waiting period and their own conditions. Article 9 grants the right to both newspapers and online news sites.
Categories are determined by quota location
Under Article 53 the categories of online news sites are determined by their quota locations. The second paragraph adds an important detail: those categories are constituted on the basis of provincial boundaries, and districts are included within the quota location.
| Category | Quota location |
|---|---|
| General Category | Turkey as a whole |
| 1st Category | İstanbul |
| 2nd Category | Ankara, İzmir |
| 3rd Category | Adana, Antalya, Aydın, Balıkesir, Bursa and other provinces listed |
| 4th Category | Afyonkarahisar, Batman, Bolu, Çanakkale and other provinces listed |
| 5th Category | Adıyaman, Ağrı, Aksaray, Amasya and other provinces listed |
What is the General Category?
The top row of the table works on a different logic. Under Article 53(3) the General Category comprises online news sites which, irrespective of which of the 1st to 5th Categories they fall into, meet defined qualifications in order to publish the official announcements listed in Article 77(1).
How to enter the General Category
Article 53(4) requires two things:
- Having met the conditions specified in the Regulation for one month looking back from the date of application
- Notifying that request to the Agency in signed form
The waiting period and the other conditions
For online news sites the waiting period is 24 months as a rule (Art. 54(1)). It falls to six months for those meeting twice their category conditions (Art. 54(2)), and likewise to six months where there is no other right-holder, or site with a started waiting period, in your quota location (Art. 54(4)).
The principal other items you must satisfy are: the concession holder (Art. 55), continuity of publication (Art. 56), the obligation to retain content (Art. 57), the masthead and contact details (Art. 58), minimum staffing (Art. 59), minimum number of news items (Art. 60) and minimum visitor traffic (Art. 61).
Conclusion
An online news site can receive official announcements. You must determine your category by quota location, meet the conditions of that category in full, and complete a waiting period of 24 months — or six months if one of the two accelerated routes applies.
Category-by-category staffing tables are in the editorial staff guide, the news count and traffic thresholds together in the content and traffic guide, and the periods themselves in the periods guide.