Daniş named head of top media regulator RTÜK

ANKARA

Mehmet Daniş has been elected the new chair of Türkiye’s Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), replacing Ebubekir Şahin as his term expired.

Daniş has served on the nine-member media watchdog since July 2021 under the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) quota.

A lawyer by training, he previously served three consecutive terms as an AKP lawmaker between 2002 and 2015 and later as deputy food, agriculture and livestock minister in the 64th and 65th governments.

He was born in the northwestern city of Çanakkale in 1971 and graduated from Istanbul University’s Faculty of Law.

Şahin, who chaired RTÜK since 2019, has been appointed general manager of Türk Telekom. He succeeds Ümit Önal, who was named to lead the newly established Cyber Security Directorate by a presidential decree on Oct. 24.

RTÜK members are elected by parliament for six-year terms, with one-third of the council renewed every two years. The members choose a president and vice-president from among themselves for two-year tenures.

The current composition of the council is four members from the AKP, two from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and one each from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the İYİ (Good) Party.