Turkish Press Card Application Checklist

The Legal Character of the Card

Additional Art. 1/2 of Law No. 5187 settles it in one sentence: "The press card is an official identity document." The definition article (Art. 2/n) describes it as "the identity card issued by the Directorate to the persons specified in this Law". Art. 5/1 of the Regulation widens the character: press cards are official identity documents issued by the Directorate and to be accepted by all public and private institutions.

The application is made to the Directorate of Communications (Add. Art. 1/1). What is called in practice a "Ministry of Communications" is, in the legislative text, the Directorate of Communications - the authority that issues the card, cancels it and makes the regulation.

The shape, security elements, procurement and method of delivery of the card are determined by the Directorate (Art. 6/2). A card fee and a printing and distribution service fee not exceeding cost may be charged (Art. 48). A press traffic card may additionally be issued to card holders on request; its procedures are determined jointly by the Directorate and the Ministry of Interior, and it is not issued to foreign media members (Art. 44).

Five Card Types

Additional Art. 1/3 of Law No. 5187 limits the card types to five - the list is closed, there is no sixth type. Arts. 10-14 of the Regulation govern the conditions of each.

For the free press card the period is tiered by how long a card was previously held (Art. 13/3):

The free card also carries a timing condition: the application must be made within one month of leaving the media outlet where the applicant worked for at least a year (Art. 13). A free card may be issued to Turkish citizens doing freelance journalism abroad without attachment to any outlet, where their situation is confirmed by the embassy or consulate (Art. 13/4). A permanent card cannot be issued to foreign media members (Art. 14/3).

Renewal

• On expiry: the validity period is ten years; expired cards are renewed by the Directorate without a fresh Commission decision, provided the conditions in the Regulation are met (Art. 47/1).
• On returning to work: where a free card was issued on a change of workplace or title or on leaving a job, and work is taken up within the periods in Art. 37/2, it may be renewed without a Commission decision provided the other conditions are met (Art. 37/3).
• On loss or wear: if the conditions in Art. 8 or Art. 9 are met, it may be renewed without a Commission decision (Art. 45/4). The request may be made at most twice in a calendar year (Art. 45/3). In case of loss, a report and/or the newspaper copy carrying the loss notice and a document showing the applicant is still working are attached (Art. 45/2).
• General card replacement: the Directorate may decide on one; the announcement is made through its website, Anadolu Agency and TRT (Art. 43).

Who May Apply? (Add. Art. 2)

Additional Art. 2 of Law No. 5187 lists the persons to whom a card may be issued in six subparagraphs. Art. 7/1 of the Regulation repeats the same list:

• a) Turkish citizen media members of media outlets operating in Turkey
• b) Owners of periodicals or representatives of legal persons, and board chairs of radio and television outlets
• c) Foreign media members acting on behalf of media outlets whose area of duty covers Turkey, and those whose area of duty does not cover Turkey but who come to Turkey for news purposes for a limited period
• ç) Turkish citizen owners and employees of media outlets broadcasting abroad
• d) Turkish citizen media members doing freelance journalism abroad
• e) Public personnel working at public institutions providing services in the media field and in the information services they carry out
• f) Officers of unions and of associations and foundations determined to act in the public interest, provided they operate in the media field

Art. 7/2 lists those excluded: no press card is issued to the personnel engaged in the publishing activities of private sector organisations not providing services in the media field, of professional organisations having the character of public institutions, and of foreign representations in Turkey.

The Personal Conditions (Add. Art. 3 / Reg. Art. 8/1)

• (a) Having completed 18 years of age
• (b) Having graduated from at least a high school or an equivalent institution
• (c) Not being under legal incapacity or barred from public service
• (ç) Not having been convicted, even where the periods in Art. 53 of the Penal Code have elapsed, of an intentional offence carrying five years or more of imprisonment or of the catalogue offences listed in the article
• (d) Not having been convicted under Arts. 3, 4 and 6 of Anti-Terror Law No. 3713 or Art. 4 of Law No. 6415
• (e) Not having been convicted of the offences in Art. 25/2 of Law No. 5187
• (f) Having concluded a contract conforming to Law No. 5953 and, save for force majeure, working without a break of more than one month from the date of leaving a job
• (g) Not engaging in commercial activity outside media activity

Subparagraph (f) is where most applications fail. It has two limbs: a contract conforming to Law No. 5953, and no break of more than a month between leaving one job and starting another. Conformity with Law No. 5953 is not a formality - written form and the wage, seniority and termination provisions must comply with the Law. Under Art. 28/4 the contract details are entered on the declaration and the Directorate may ask for the contract physically; what the declaration says and what the contract says must match.

Under Art. 8/2 both subparagraphs (f) and (g) are not sought from owners of periodicals or representatives of legal persons, board chairs of radio and television outlets, public institution employees eligible for a card, and Turkish citizen media members working for foreign press and broadcasting organisations. There are also three cases where only subparagraph (f) is not sought: applicants for a permanent card (Art. 14/2), applicants for a free card (Art. 13/2), and those requesting a post-linked card through TRT (Art. 10/3).

Application Documents

Art. 28 sets up a single common document regime for Turkish citizens; there are no separate document lists for the post-linked, free and permanent cards.

• Press card declaration: the declaration on the Directorate's website is completed electronically (Art. 28/1).
• Passport photograph: uploading it to the application system is mandatory (Art. 28/1).
• A document evidencing at least six months of professional work: uploading it is mandatory (Art. 28/1).
• Approval: the printout of the declaration is approved by the owner of the media outlet or by the persons registered as authorised in the trade registry. At outlets that have obtained a password from the Directorate and meet the conditions, approval is given electronically (Art. 28/2).
• Contract details conforming to Law No. 5953: entered in the relevant part of the declaration; the Directorate may ask for the contract physically (Art. 28/4).
• Turkish press members resident abroad: a confirmation letter from the embassy or consulate general in the country of residence is added to the application papers (Art. 28/5).
• Applicants under the title of information officer: a duty letter signed by the senior manager, stating the unit and staff title, is submitted with the declaration approved by the senior manager (Art. 28/6).

Conditions for Foreign Media Members

Additional Art. 4 of Law No. 5187 and Art. 9/1 of the Regulation set three conditions, and the card is issued having regard also to reciprocity:

• a) Documenting that they have been assigned by a media outlet
• b) Holding a work permit under International Labour Force Law No. 6735
• c) Presenting a letter of introduction obtained from the embassy, legation or consulate in Turkey of the country where their organisation's head office is located

Art. 9/2 also requires a work permit for those requesting a temporary press card who are not insured under Art. 4/1-(a) of Law No. 5510; such applications are assessed exceptionally under Art. 16 of Law No. 6735.

For fixed-term and temporary card applications an electronic form is completed and copies of these documents are uploaded (Art. 40/1): the document showing the assignment and the service-fee relationship; the press member visa obtained from Turkish embassies or consulates general, or the work visa from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security; the letter of introduction from the representation in Turkey of the country of the head office; a photocopy of the visa and identity pages of the passport; and one passport photograph.

For those coming on a temporary assignment, where the letter of introduction, passport photocopy and photograph are supplemented by an assignment document stating the period of duty and the fields and subjects of work in Turkey, a card may be issued for a period not exceeding three months having regard to the period of duty, and extended once (Art. 40/2). A letter of introduction is not required from foreign media members applying through Anadolu Agency and TRT (Art. 40/3).

The Permanent Card and the 18-Year Calculation

Art. 14/1 sets two measures: at least eighteen years of professional service for media members, and at least eighteen years holding a press card for information officers. The card may be issued for life. On application the conditions other than Art. 8/1-(f) are sought (Art. 14/2) and it cannot be issued to foreign media members (Art. 14/3).

The only express rule in the Regulation on the calculation is Art. 14/4, added on 6/6/2024: "In calculating the periods specified in the first paragraph, at most twenty-four months of the total periods during which a free press card was held under Article 13 are taken into account."

The Press Card Commission

Under Additional Art. 5 of Law No. 5187 and Art. 30/1 of the Regulation the Commission has 19 members. Members designated under subparagraphs (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) are as a rule chosen from professionals who have held a press card for at least five years (Art. 30/2). The term of office is two years and members whose term expires may be re-elected (Art. 31/1). At its first meeting the Commission elects a chair and a deputy chair for two years by absolute majority of the full membership (Art. 31/2).

• Meeting frequency: at least three times a year, save for force majeure; extraordinary meetings are held on the Directorate's own motion or at the written request of an absolute majority of members (Art. 34/1).
• Meeting quorum: the participation of at least 13 members (Art. 34/2). If a majority is not reached at the first meeting, a second is held within 30 days at the latest; except for the election of the chair and deputy chair, no quorum is required at the second meeting.
• Decision quorum: an absolute majority of the members attending. Abstention is not permitted. In a tie the decision follows the side on which the chair, or in their absence the deputy chair, sits (Art. 34/4).
• Remote participation: possible provided sound and image are transmitted together; a remote vote carries all the legal effects of physical attendance (Art. 34/3).
• Agenda: the applications to be discussed are finalised at least five days before the meeting date and opened to members electronically (Art. 35/1).

The Commission decides to accept or refuse the request by assessing the applicant's qualifications, professional work, published output, awards and the qualities of the media outlet they belong to (Arts. 33/1-a, 35/2). Where the applicant works for an internet news site, the site's unique visitor count and page-view count are also taken into account (Art. 35/3). For information officers, whether the title and the duties actually performed are media-related is considered (Art. 35/4). Decisions are recorded in minutes and the reasons for refusals are annexed (Art. 35/5).

Quota: A Separate Matter

Meeting the conditions is not enough on its own; how many people may be issued cards depending on your type of outlet is separately governed in Chapter Five of the Regulation (Arts. 19-27). The measure is page surface area for newspapers, page count for magazines, the number of employees insured under Law No. 5953 for internet news sites, and the character of the broadcast for radio and television. We set the calculation out table by table in the quota calculator, and show the surface area arithmetic step by step in the surface area guide.

Grounds and Consequences of Cancellation

Additional Art. 6 of Law No. 5187 and Art. 38 of the Regulation tie cancellation to two different mechanisms. The first rests on the Directorate's finding, the second on the Commission's assessment.

The consequences of cancellation are governed by Additional Art. 7 of Law No. 5187. After cancellation for breach of press ethics principles, no new card is issued until one year has passed from the date the card was returned (Reg. Art. 38/4). Those who fall foul of subparagraphs (ç), (d) and (e) of Additional Art. 3 are issued no new card unless action under Arts. 12 and/or 13/A of Criminal Records Law No. 5352 is established (Reg. Art. 38/3).

When the Card Must Be Returned

Art. 37 sets the situations and periods for returning the card to the Directorate. Under Art. 36/1, changes in the workplace and title of a card holder or applicant are also notified in writing to the Directorate within one month of the change, by the press member and by the owners of the media outlet.

Challenging a Refusal or Cancellation

Here it is worth being honest: the Press Card Regulation contains no provision on objections. The word "objection" does not appear anywhere in Arts. 1-51 and Provisional Art. 1; no administrative appeal body, appeal period or reconsideration procedure is provided against refusal or cancellation decisions.

The only route the Regulation provides is a fresh application: reapplying once deficiencies are cured and the condition is met (Art. 29/2); reapplying once the grounds of cancellation have disappeared (Art. 38/1); and the one-year waiting period after an ethics cancellation (Art. 38/4).

Step-by-Step Checklist

Copy the list below and work through it, ticking the boxes. Each line is a provision whose basis is shown above.

TURKISH PRESS CARD APPLICATION CHECKLIST
Applicant: ...........................  Date: ..../..../20....

A. DETERMINE THE CARD TYPE
[ ] Post-linked  [ ] Free  [ ] Permanent
[ ] Fixed-term (foreign)  [ ] Temporary (foreign)

B. PERSONAL CONDITIONS (Law 5187 Add. Art. 3 / Reg. Art. 8/1)
[ ] (a) I have completed 18 years of age
[ ] (b) I graduated from at least a high school or equivalent - diploma ready
[ ] (c) I am not under legal incapacity or barred from public service
[ ] (c) No conviction for the catalogue offences under Penal Code Art. 53
        or for an intentional offence carrying 5+ years - record clean
[ ] (d) No conviction under Law 3713 Arts. 3/4/6 or Law 6415 Art. 4
[ ] (e) No conviction for the offences in Law 5187 Art. 25/2
[ ] (f) I have a WRITTEN contract conforming to Law 5953
        (not sought for permanent / free / applications through TRT)
[ ] (f) No gap of more than 1 month between leaving and starting work -
        verified against the social security service record
[ ] (g) I have no commercial activity outside media activity
        (not sought from publication owners / broadcast board chairs /
         public personnel / Turkish citizens at foreign outlets)

C. OUTLET AND QUOTA (Reg. Arts. 15-18 and 19-27)
[ ] My outlet has the qualities in Chapter Four
[ ] The quota for my type of outlet is calculated and there is room
[ ] (Newspaper/magazine) declaration + prosecutor's receipt available
[ ] (Internet news site) the minimum number of Law 5953 employees in
    Art. 27 is met
[ ] (Radio-TV) lawful broadcasting permissions under Law 6112 held

D. DOCUMENTS (Reg. Art. 28)
[ ] Declaration completed electronically
[ ] Passport photograph uploaded
[ ] Document evidencing at least 6 months of professional work uploaded
[ ] Declaration printout approved by the outlet owner or the person
    registered as authorised in the trade registry (or approved online)
[ ] Contract details entered on the declaration; original contract ready
    (the Directorate may request it physically)
[ ] (Resident abroad) embassy/consulate general confirmation letter
[ ] (Information officer) duty letter signed by the senior manager

E. IF A FOREIGN MEDIA MEMBER (Reg. Arts. 9 and 40)
[ ] Document showing the assignment and service-fee relationship
[ ] Work permit under Law 6735
[ ] Press member visa or work visa
[ ] Letter of introduction (not required through Anadolu Agency / TRT)
[ ] Photocopy of the visa and identity pages of the passport
[ ] 1 passport photograph
[ ] (Temporary card) assignment document stating the period of duty and
    subjects of work

F. PREVIOUS CARD AND NOTIFICATIONS
[ ] Old press card returned (Art. 37/4 - otherwise the application is
    NOT processed)
[ ] Change of workplace/title notified in writing within 1 month (Art. 36/1)

G. IF APPLYING FOR A PERMANENT CARD
[ ] 18 years of professional service (or 18 years holding a card, for an
    information officer) can be documented
[ ] Allowance made for at most 24 months of free-card periods counting
    (Art. 14/4)
[ ] The calculation confirmed in writing by the Directorate

H. AFTER FILING
[ ] Contact details on the declaration are current (a refusal is notified
    there - Art. 29/2)
[ ] The Commission agenda is being followed (applications are finalised at
    least 5 days before the meeting - Art. 35/1)
[ ] If refused: cure the deficiency and reapply, or bring an annulment
    action - assessed with a lawyer