Zaman newspaper: Defiant last edition as Turkey police raid
Source: BBC
Turkey's biggest newspaper, Zaman, has condemned its takeover by the authorities in a defiant last edition published just before police raided it.
Saturday's edition said Turkey's press had experienced "one of the darkest days in its history".
Turkish police raided Zaman's offices hours after a court ruling placed it under state control, but managers were still able to get the edition to print.
Zaman readers are protesting against the takeover outside the offices.
Unconfirmed reports say police have now dispersed the protest, numbering about 500 people, with tear gas and water cannon.
The paper is closely linked to the Hizmet movement of influential US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, which Turkey says is a "terrorist" group aiming to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.
Mr Gulen was once an ally of Mr Erdogan but the two fell out.
Many Hizmet supporters have been arrested.
The government in Ankara has come under increasing international criticism over its treatment of journalists.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35735793
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)Can Turkey return to democracy?
İHSAN YILMAZ March 04, 2016, Friday
This may be the last or one of the last pieces that I write for this newspaper.
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) regime is planning to confiscate the Zaman daily and Today's Zaman. This is clearly against the Constitution, which states that media outlets cannot be confiscated, shut down, etc. But there is no longer any rule of law in the country. After the Constitutional Court's verdict on journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been giving orders to judges to imprison them again and very openly even said the government does not obey all the verdicts of the Constitutional Court and that Turkey will pay the EUropean Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) the fine if the court rules in the future that the journalists' rights were violated. He is simply asking judges to illegally imprison Dündar and Gül and this is not a big deal as the only cost would be the compensation ordered by the ECtHR. Thus, it does not matter if the Constitution states that media outlets cannot be confiscated, Erdoğan will confiscate them anyway.
As a result, about 90 percent of media coverage would directly or indirectly be in Erdoğan's hands. What does that mean? This means no one will ever be able to defeat him and his party in any elections. This means the death warrant of Turkish democracy. No one will have the chance to learn about the mistakes of the AKP. In this Orwellian nightmare, even the mistakes of the AKP will be sold to voters as its great successes. For instance, even though Turkey is now divided into two, the AKP will successfully convince its voters that Turkey has not gotten rid of its ineffective parts and is now ready to be stronger to conquer the world. Even as of today, the AKP has about 40 percent of voters who would swallow these stupid propaganda despite the news coverage of non-AKP media. Imagine how many more would start believing the AKP fabrications after these media outlets are turned into mouthpieces of the AKP.
No one in Turkey would be surprised if one day they read in the AKP media that the 12 members of the Constitutional Court who decided that Dündar and Gül were illegally imprisoned are suddenly caught red-handed with kilograms of heroin hidden in their homes or cars. The AKP's 40-50 percent would instantly tell themselves even before the AKP media starts brainwashing them: We knew it! It was so obvious that the Constitutional judges are crooked! The parallel state was aware of their drug-related crimes so they blackmailed the judges to release Dündar and Gül, who are spies, working for the CIA, Mossad, MI6 etc. I am not exaggerating; millions of dedicated AKP supporters already believe similar delusions.
In such a setting, no party other than the AKP will ever be able to convince the AKP's voters who now make up about 50-55 percent of the electorate that they are not working for the CIA. Turkey will continue to hold elections but similar to Iran, only Erdoğan-approved candidates will be able to contest. In the meantime, Erdoğan will continue to deal with his NATO allies, the West, the EU, etc. with his infamous stick and carrot policies ranging from providing military bases and fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), etc. to flooding the West with Syrian refugees or granting multi-billion government tenders to Western firms. These democratic countries had worked with Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi in the past and are now blissfully working with the Saudis. Why wouldn't they work with Erdoğan despite his actions towards his opponents?
Bad Dog
(2,025 posts)In the past when the religious element has got out of hand the military has stepped in. I wouldn't want that to happen though. The problem is that Erdogan's supporters, mostly rural and conservative, won't have a problem with curtailing press freedom which they view as too secular and western as it is.
Turkey is going through a very dark time, and I fear that it is only going to get worse. I feel for the people there; it is a beautiful and culturally rich country and the people are very hospitable. They deserve better than this government.
dhol82
(9,353 posts)I have been worried for quite some time that Erdogan is turning the country more and more right and in the direction of a fundamentalist Islam.
Visited in the 90's and again in the aughts - differences noted. Now, from what I see in the news, it is much more restricted.
Ataturk must be spinning in his grave.
Eugene
(61,945 posts)Source: Reuters
Turkish police fire tear gas at newspaper, EU officials lament press record
ISTANBUL | BY AYLA JEAN YACKLEY
Turkish police fired tear gas and rubber bullets on Saturday to disperse protesters outside the country's biggest newspaper after authorities seized control of it in a crackdown on a religious group whose leader the government accuses of treason.
A court on Friday appointed an administrator to run the flagship Zaman, English-language Today's Zaman and Cihan agency, linked to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen who the government says plotted a coup. The ruling came at the request of a prosecutor probing Gulen on terrorism charges, state media said.
Rights groups and European officials condemned the takeover, seeing it as proof the government silences dissident views. Other media outlets affiliated with Gulen's movement were seized in October, and companies, including a bank, have been confiscated, wiping out billions of dollars in valuations.
"Extremely worried about latest developments on Zaman newspaper which jeopardizes progress made by Turkey in other areas," European Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said on Twitter. "We will continue to monitor this case closely. Turkey, as a candidate country, needs to respect freedom of the media."
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-media-idUSKCN0W70IN
47of74
(18,470 posts)So that if he gets in the White House he can shut down the press here too.
FairWinds
(1,717 posts)open support for Daesh (which could not persist for long
without supply lines through Turkey) . .
somebody explain to me again why Turkey is a member of NATO.
Veterans For Peace - as always, asking the hard questions.
Bad Dog
(2,025 posts)As a stalwart against Communism. Hoorah for that.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)With the EU increasingly seeking Turkeys help to contain Europes worst refugee crisis since World War II, and Ankaras membership talks at an early stage, Erdogans allies are betting the escalation wont damage Turkeys ties with the bloc.
The president expects EU leaders to turn a blind eye in return for his cooperation in curbing Syrian refugee flows to the continent, said Aykan Erdemir, a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based policy institute focused on national security...
/.... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-06/turkey-steps-up-crackdown-on-erdogan-foes-on-eve-of-eu-meetings
Democat
(11,617 posts)Instead, they seem to be moving in the opposite directly.
Bad Dog
(2,025 posts)Erdogan has the EU over a barrel with the current refugee crisis. Note how muted the criticism has been.