On September 25, 2017, Turkey decided to remove broadcaster Rudaw, which is affiliated to the Kurdistan Region, from its satellite broadcasting on the same day voting took place on an independence referendum in the KRG. Censorship of sensitive topics in Turkey happens both online and offline. Kurdish issues, the Armenian genocide, as well as subjects controversial for Islam or the Turkish state are often censored. Enforcement remains arbitrary and unpredictable. Also, defamation of the Head of the State is a crime provision increasingly used for censoring critical voices in Turkey. In the 2018 Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index, Turkey is ranked in the 157th place out of 178 countries. The situation for free expression has always been troubled in Turkey. The situation dramatically deteriorated after the 2013 Gezi protests, reaching its peak after the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. From that moment on, a state of emergency is in force, tens of thousand of journalists, academics, public officials and intellectuals have been arrested or charged, mainly with terrorist charges, sometimes following some statement or writing of them. The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights' report on freedom of expression and media freedom in Turkey, after his 2016 visits to Turkey, noted that the violations to freedom of expression in Turkey have created a distinct chilling effect, manifesting in self- censorship both among the remaining media and among ordinary citizens. In addition, the Commissioner wrote that the main obstacle to an improvement of the situation of freedom of expression and media freedom in Turkey is the lack of political will both to acknowledge and to address such problems. In 2017, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights noted that with regard to judicial harassment restricting freedom of expression the main issues consist in:  As to January 18, 2017, more than 150 media outlets were closed and their assets liquidated by governmental decrees. Under emergency decree No. 687 of February 9, 2017, Turkey's Saving Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) will be authorized to sell companies seized by the state through the appointment of trustees. Also, through the use of emergency decrees- such as Nos. 668 (July 27, 2016), 675 (October 29, 2016) and 677 (November 22, 2016), 178 media organizations were closed down being charged of having terrorist affiliations. As to November 2016, Twenty-four of these shut-down media organizations were radio stations, twenty- eight televisions, eighty newspapers. In 2014, Turkish regulators issued several reporting bans on public interest issues. In 2012, as part of the Third Reform Package, all previous bans on publications were cancelled unless renewed by court - which happened for most leftist and Kurdish publications.