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Court
orders Turkish Zaman daily into administration, raising concerns of
free press abuse
RT,
4
March, 2016
The
Istanbul-based daily newspaper Zaman, which has been sharply critical
of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been ordered into
administration by an Istanbul court.
New
managers to run the newspaper will be appointed by the court, which
acted on the request of Istanbul prosecutors, the state-run Anatolia
news agency said Friday. The new management will be expected to
transform the media's editorial policy, AFP reported, citing
analysts.
"Zaman
would be taken over in a government-backed operation. Four batches of
anti-terror squads and riot police would be sent over to Zaman
headquarters in Istanbul. So tomorrow's newspaper will probably be
the last time it is written how it's supposed to be written – by
our editorial team,"
the paper's foreign affairs correspondent told RT by phone. Erdogan
"has
no tolerance for any dissent or opposition, whether it's in politics
or in the media,"
he dded.
There
was no immediate official explanation for the court's decision, AFP
said.
Sevgi Akarcesme
Front page of last free @todayszamancom before it is seized by the government in Turkey #ZamanSusturulamaz
"We
are going through the darkest and gloomiest days in terms of freedom
of the press, which is a major benchmark for democracy and the rule
of law,"
a statement from
Zaman's English-language sister publication, Today's Zaman, read.
Commenting
on the alleged takeover of "Turkey's
highest circulating newspaper,"
the statement added that "media
organizations and journalists are being silenced via threats and
blackmail."
Today's Zaman staff were also concerned about the fate of their own
publication, saying they were "working
on perhaps the last free and independent issues."
Sevgi Akarçeşme
Today's Zaman ekibi olarak belki de son özgür ve bağımsız sayımız üzerinde çalışıyoruz. #ZamanSusturulamaz
Ankara's
move was criticized by Amnesty International on Friday, with the
human rights NGO saying "rumors
of an imminent government takeover... are deeply troubling amid the
Turkish authorities' ongoing onslaught on dissenting media."
"By lashing out and seeking to rein in critical voices, President Erdogan’s government is steamrolling over human rights," Amnesty International's Turkey expert Andrew Gardner said.
"This
is the latest episode in the long-standing attacks on media freedom
and the freedom of expression in general in Turkey,"
Milena Buyum, Amnesty International’s campaigner for Turkey, told
RT. "We
will continue to raise our concerns with international organizations
and national governments outside of Turkey, because we believe that
rights and freedoms that are being attacked in Turkey must receive an
adequate, appropriate and very strong response from the international
community,"
she said, adding that "stronger
criticism can be leveled at Turkey"
from other governments and international groups.
AmnestyInternational
BREAKING: @todayszamancom is about to seized amid Turkish govt's onslaught on press freedom http://amn.st/6018BdC1e
The
US State Department said Ankara's actions are "troubling."
"We
see this as the latest in a series of troubling judicial and law
enforcement actions taken by the Turkish government targeting media
outlets and others critical of it,"
spokesman John Kirby said at a news briefing on Friday.
Protesters
gathered outside the paper's headquarters in Istanbul to express
their support for the journalists and said they would "fight
for a free press."
Ruptly
The
Zaman newspaper is linked to the now US-based Sunni cleric Fethullah
Gulen, who was at one time Erdogan’s close ally, but has now become
a fierce critic of the leader.
The
news about the government takeover of Zaman comes a week after two
Turkish journalists were released from jail, having served months on
controversial charges. Editors of the Cumhuriyet newspaper were
detained for publishing a report claiming to show Ankara's
intelligence officials transporting arms to Syria.
President Erdogan said he didn't want to "respect" the court decision to release the journalists, while a presidential spokesman noted that the release was not equal to an acquittal.
President Erdogan said he didn't want to "respect" the court decision to release the journalists, while a presidential spokesman noted that the release was not equal to an acquittal.
This is from Today's Zaman itself
Court appoints trustees to take over management of Zaman, Today’s Zaman
The
entrance of Zaman headquarters. (Photo: Today's Zaman, Selahattin
Sevi)
March
04, 2016, Friday/ 15:16:31/ TODAYSZAMAN.COM | ISTANBUL
An
İstanbul court has appointed trustees to take over the management
of the Feza Media Group, which includes Turkey’s biggest-selling
newspaper, the Zaman daily,
as well as the Today’s Zaman daily and the Cihan news agency,
dealing a fresh blow to the already battered media
freedom in
Turkey.
Silence from the "guardian of freedom", the Guardian
For the BBC it is not a question of press freedom for a newspaper that tells the truth but of repressing "terrorism".
Turkey seizes control of Zaman newspaper
linked to Gulen
Zaman
is closely linked to the Hizmet movement of influential US-based
cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally.
Turkey
describes Hizmet as a "terrorist organisation" aiming to
overthrow the government. Many of its supporters have been arrested
Turkish police deploy tear gas against crowd protesting Zaman daily takeover
Turkish
police have used water cannon and tear gas to disperse crowds which
gathered outside the headquarters of the opposition Zaman newspaper
in protest against the government's decision to take over management
of the media group.
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