Turkey’s Strategies for Ensuring Digital Security and Regulating Media Landscape

The Republic of Turkey has demonstrated a significant increase in influence on the world stage over the past decade, and the rise of information security ambitions has not been lost on the Republic of Turkey either. Turkey is currently at the forefront of digital and information initiatives in the Middle East. Not the least place in the country’s news reports is occupied by news of blocking and acts of active regulation of Internet and traditional media, which are of growing concern to Turkish society. The research paper discusses in detail the historical background, legal basis, current state and trends in approaches to ensuring digital and information security in Turkey, as well as the regulatory function of the state in relation to the Internet and media. As a methodological basis for the study, a case study of specific examples was used, setting up the Turkish leadership to be directly involved in the processes of regulating the information space and media. In addition, a content analysis was conducted, supported by a study of the statutes of the main regulatory structures in Turkey. Key articles and monographs by leading Turkish scholars in the fields of jurisprudence, information security and its history were also studied. It was revealed that one of the main reasons for the strengthening of control over the information space was the targeting of a number of cyber attacks on the entourage of President R.T. Erdogan. At the same time, it is emphasized that the unrest of recent years has become an additional trigger for changing approaches to digital security and media regulation.