Wednesday 9 March 2016

More crack-down on Turkey's media

Turkish Cihan news agency ‘seized’ by government


© Murad Sezer
© Murad Sezer / Reuters

RT,
8 March, 2016
Despite criticism from European officials over its crackdown on opposition media, the Turkish government has reportedly taken control of another news agency. It comes days after the seizure of the popular opposition newspaper Zaman.
The news agency Cihan is believed to be close to US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a foe of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On Monday it posted a statement on its website which said an Istanbul court would appoint an administrator to run it. The ruling was made on a request from prosecutors investigating Gulen, who is suspected by the Turkish government of plotting a coup.

The development came just days after the popular opposition newspaper Zaman was seized by the Turkish government in a similar way. Both the news agency and the newspaper are part of the Feza Gazetecilik media company.
Other media outlets and businesses affiliated with Gulen's movement were taken over last year as the investigation was underway.

The crackdown was condemned by rights groups and several European politicians, although criticism was muted from European leaders, who were negotiating on Monday a deal with Turkey on handling the refugee flow into the EU.

The press must be free everywhere, including everywhere in Turkey,” said French President Francois Hollande, one of the few to make a public statement on Turkish actions. He added that the EU’s co-operation with Turkey “doesn’t mean we accept whatever Turkey does.”

Charles Michel, the Belgian prime minister, said media freedom was “untouchable,” while his Luxembourg counterpart Xavier Bettel said: “It can’t be that just because of the migration crisis we throw other values out of the window, like freedom of the press.”

Turkey, which successfully negotiated a doubling of a multibillion-dollar EU aid package to tackle the refugee crisis, as well as a promise of visa-free travel, says it has the right to take legal action against journalists.

"Turkey has the right to question those who take part in a clear coup attempt, whether economic or journalistic, against an elected government," Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said while on a trip to Tehran.

"There is a legal process examining charges of political operations, including funneling illegal monies. We have never intervened in the legal process," he said.
Critics of Ankara say it is using the refugee crisis to shield itself from European criticism.

Right now, they need Erdogan,” said Selahattin Demirtas, the Kurdish leader of the HDP (People’s Democratic Party).

He uses the refugee crisis to blackmail the EU,” he added. “This crisis should not become a business deal.”

Erdogan and Gulen used to be political allies, but became bitter foes in 2013, when police officials and prosecutors reportedly sympathetic to Gulen opened a corruption investigation into Erdogan's inner circle. The investigation was quashed, but resulted in a cabinet reshuffle and mass protests in Turkey.


Taleof 2 Zamans: Turkey’s opposition paper vows to keep printing inGermany after govt crackdown





Turkey’s top-selling opposition newspaper, Zaman, which has been “forcibly taken over” by the Turkish government, will continue publishing as an independent daily in Germany, editor-in-chief of Zaman Almanya (Zaman Germany) has vowed.

Speaking to Reuters TV, Zaman Almanya’s editor-in-chief, Sueleyman Bag, said the current print version of Zaman in Turkey “has nothing to do with Zaman there because it has been forcibly taken over by the state.”

We will print an independent newspaper. We still have not addressed the question of how we do that. This is a new challenge for us,” Bag said. Zaman Almanya’s print edition in Germany, which is home to a large Turkish community, has 14,300 subscribers.

Listen to the faceless EU bureaucrat: "I don't like what I read in Zaman". I bet! They tell the truth abour Turkey

We continue working despite fear’ – Turkish journalist




The popular Zaman newspaper was seized by the government on Friday - it was a known voice of opposition to President Erdogan's ruling party. European officials say it won't do much for Ankara's bid to join the EU. RT's Paula Slier talked to other opposition journalists in Turkey - to find out what they think about the media crackdown.

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