Deniz Arslan at Today's Zaman:
Ekrem Dumanlı, the editor-in-chief of the Zaman daily, and Hidayet Karaca, the chairman of Samanyolu TV, were detained on Sunday in a police operation that targeted journalists, TV scriptwriters and former police officers.Robert Ellis at The Guardian:
A number of international advocacy groups and press organizations in addition to political actors such as the EU and the US have reacted strongly to the detentions, which are fostering the image of a Turkey increasingly drifting toward authoritarianism.
“The ruling party in Turkey has launched an operation against media. The operation -- which you can only explain as a result of [the country] ‘going mad' -- has severely strained ties with the West and especially the EU. Turkey has turned its face to the Middle East, where the government does not have a single friend and cannot post an ambassador to three capitals,” Mehmet Altan, an academic and prominent Turkish journalist, told Sunday's Zaman.
As I am a regular commentator on Turkish affairs in the Danish and international press – and a frequent contributor to Today’s Zaman, the English-language edition of Zaman– the government’s latest move comes uncomfortably close.Yohuru Williams at HuffPost Media:Zaman is considered to be the flagship of the Gülen movement, which has now been declared public enemy number one. Gülen-inspired public prosecutors and police officers have been accused by Erdoğan of forming “a parallel state” and attempting to overthrow the government, with allegations of corruption and malfeasance levelled against ministers and prominent businessmen in an investigation launched a year ago. In a series of reprisals, some 80,000 police officers have been reassigned to new positions, and on one day alone in June the same happened to 2,517 judges and prosecutors.
According to the Turkish Journalists Union, 845 journalists lost their jobs during last year’s Gezi Park protests, and in October a report published by the opposition CHP (Republican People’s Party/Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi) stated that 1,863 journalists had been fired since the AKP (Justice and Development Party/Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) came to power in 2002. Now the turn has come to the Gülenist media.
[...]
The Gülen movement was instrumental in enabling the AKP to come to power and consolidate its grip on Turkey, but now Erdoğan has turned on his former ally, which has led to soul-searching in the Gülen camp and schadenfreude in other circles.
While a slew of American actors, politicians and entertainers were lining up to offer their insights on what the company should do and the importance of free speech, they were regrettably silent about events taking place elsewhere in the world, namely Turkey where another surreal convergence of media, arts and politics is taking place in a preposterous way.He has arrogantly told Europe to stop criticizing his actions, which won't go over very well.In recent weeks, Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan has stunned much of the country with his treatment of the media. Authorities detained 27 people most of whom are media professionals including the editor-in-chief of the highest circulated newspaper, Zaman, and the president of Samanyolu Media Group, one of the nation's oldest and most popular TV channels. Among those taken into custody were the producer, screenwriters and directors of a popular drama series that aired on Samanyolu TV. After a few days, officials released most of the detainees however, Hidayet Karaca, the president of STV is still in jail. He stands accused of "being a member of an armed terrorist organization." While the charges against Karaca appear ludicrous to many people across the spectrum in Turkey, Erdoğan has gone on the defensive.
In addition to criticizing the European Union for trying to make Turkey a political scapegoat for its criticism of these moves, Erdoğan has steadfastly denied attempts by his administration to stifle dissent. "Nowhere in the world is the press freer than it is in Turkey," he proclaimed during a press conference on December 26. However, the evidence strongly suggests otherwise. TheI international Committee to Protect Journalists, for instance, reports that Turkey ranks tenth on its list of nations hostile to a free press. This is actually progress from 2012 and 2013 when Turkey ranked ahead of China and Iran on the same list. Erdoğan's recent actions however threaten to set the nation back once again. Turkey likewise placed a disgraceful 154th on the World Press Freedom Index of 2014. This is indeed unfortunate for an administration that began with such promise.
Al Jazeera on RTE's stupid justification to do the crackdowns:
Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has defended the crackdown on his opponents, including an arrest warrant for US-based arch-foe Fethullah Gülen, saying it is a "clean" legal process.He is infamously known around the world for successfully getting Twitter temporarily banned in Turkey (which got thankfully overturned,much to Erdoğan's dismay). He has also expressed dismay over a very popular soap opera called Muhteşem Yüzyıl (Magnificent Century) over the depiction of the Sultan.Erdoğan's remarks came amid criticism from the European Union, which has said the "operation goes against the European values and standards Turkey aspires to be part of", a reference to Turkey's ongoing bid to join the bloc.
In a speech in Istanbul on Friday, Erdoğan denied there had been any "lynching" of opponents and said the arrests were linked to a "coup plot" led by Gülen aimed at ousting him from power.
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Arsıza Hırsıza
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H.Karaca'ya
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