Turkey Seizes Newspaper, Zaman, as Press Crackdown Continues

[MikeWB]

Turkey Seizes Newspaper, Zaman, as Press Crackdown Continues

ISTANBUL — Backed by a court order, the Turkish authorities moved on Friday to seize Zaman, the country's most widely circulated newspaper, in the latest crackdown by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on freedom of the press.

The seizing of the newspaper also highlighted the government's building campaign against those it perceives to be its two greatest enemies: opposition journalists and the followers of Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric affiliated with the newspaper who lives in exile in Pennsylvania. Mr. Gulen was once an ally of Mr. Erdogan's but is now a bitter enemy.

As news of the takeover became public Friday afternoon, supporters began gathering in front of the newspaper's offices in Istanbul, and employees locked a door to the building. In a live-stream broadcast on the newspaper's website, supporters were seen chanting, "Free press cannot be silenced." Some carried Turkish flags and banners emblazoned with, "Do not touch my newspaper." Columnists from the paper were also seen addressing the crowd.


Later Friday night, Turkish police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowd and forcibly enter the building.

"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," read a statement issued by the editors of Today's Zaman, an English-language sister publication to Zaman. "Intellectuals, businesspeople, celebrities, civil society organizations, media organizations and journalists are being silenced via threats and blackmail."

The move to seize Zaman and put it under the administration of a court-appointed panel of trustees emphasized what critics say is a rapid deterioration of free-speech rights under the Islamist government of Mr. Erdogan, who was prime minister for more than a decade before being elected president in 2014.

The executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Joel Simon, said in a statement on Friday, "Rather than taking aggressive action to undermine the newspapers, Turkish authorities should be fulfilling their constitutional obligation to defend press freedom and rights of the journalists."

The crackdown on expression comes amid a growing sense that Turkey, once seen as a bastion of stability in a hostile region, is being enveloped by instability.

A war with Kurdish separatists has turned cities in the southeast into rubble. The country is straining under the weight of more than two million refugees from Syria. And Islamic State militants, who have used Turkey to transit fighters and weapons to Syria and Iraq, have carried out deadly attacks on Turkish soil.

As Turkey faces its domestic demons, critics say the government has been emboldened to target its enemies within the country because the European Union and NATO allies, in particular, have looked the other way as they seek Turkey's support to contain the refugee crisis and pacify the raging civil war in Syria.


"This pattern is appalling, and Turkey is galloping towards an authoritarian regime full speed ahead," said Asli Aydintasbas, a prominent journalist who lost her column last year at the daily Milliyet under government pressure. "Unfortunately, the world, in particular the E.U., remains silent. The government here can sense the vulnerability in the West, especially since the beginning of the refugee crisis, and is pushing the boundaries to consolidate its power."

Ms. Aydintasbas added, using an acronym for the Islamic State, "Erdogan knows the West is vulnerable because of ISIS and the refugees and he is going to use this as much as he can."


Always thin-skinned, Mr. Erdogan has taken increasingly harsh steps in recent years to muzzle his critics. Dozens of journalists perceived as critical of the government have lost their jobs as officials have put pressure on their bosses. Academics have been targeted for speaking out against the government's military campaign against Kurdish insurgents in the southeast.

At the same time, the justice system has charged Turks of all stripes — authors, journalists, cartoonists, politicians and ordinary citizens — with "insulting the president." All told, more than 1,800 insult cases have been brought, the country's justice minister revealed this week.

In some cases, such as with Zaman, and a broader crackdown on Mr. Gulen's followers in business and the judiciary and the police, the government has applied the country's antiterrorism laws.

When Mr. Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, known by its Turkish initials A.K.P., rose to power in 2002, one of its important allies was Mr. Gulen, a powerful, moderate cleric. The A.K.P. and Mr. Gulen's followers in the police and judiciary cooperated in a series of trials against military officers on coup charges — later determined to be based on fabricated evidence — that ultimately removed the military's influence over politics.

But in late 2013, the groups had a falling-out over a number of issues, including the government's handling of protests in the summer of 2013 and Turkey's aggressive policy of supporting rebels in the Syrian civil war. Another point of friction was the growing hostility between Turkey and Israel, a country that the Gulenists were more sympathetic to than was Mr. Erdogan.

At the end of 2013, a corruption inquiry targeted Mr. Erdogan and his inner circle, a challenge that Mr. Erdogan survived by removing police officers and judges. Since then, the two sides have waged an all-out war in which Mr. Erdogan has had the upper hand.

The Gulen movement has been on the defensive, accused of being a terrorist organization that is plotting a coup. Its members have been subject to arrests, intimidation and court cases, while Mr. Erdogan has seemingly become more powerful. He has risen to the presidency, while his party, in national elections in November, secured four more years in power.

Recently, there was one glimmer of hope for Turkey's beleaguered journalists. Turkey's highest court issued a ruling that freed two newspaper editors who were jailed on espionage charges. The editors, Can Dundar and Erdem Gul, of the daily Cumhuriyet, are being prosecuted for reporting on alleged weapons transfers by Turkish intelligence agents to rebels in Syria. The case is proceeding, but the editors were released from jail after the court determined that their constitutional rights had been violated.

Mr. Dundar, in a text message, said Friday of the Zaman case: "It is the sign that fear has entirely grown in the halls of state. They do not have tolerance for even the tiniest criticism. But it is impossible to silence an entire society by disregarding the law. Turkey would not keep quiet."

Mr. Erdogan responded to that court ruling by saying that he did not respect it, and throughout the crackdown on Gulen-affiliated media — which did not begin with Friday's seizure of Zaman, but has been continuing — government officials have framed it not as an assault on freedom of the press but as a determined effort to destroy a group it sees as an enemy of the Turkish state.

Speaking on local television Friday, Mehmet Metiner, a lawmaker with Mr. Erdogan's party, said, "We will go on fighting against the Fethullah terror organization, and their extensions in the media and business world within the range of the law."

Correction: March 4, 2016
Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article in one instance misspelled the name of the reporter in Istanbul. She is Safak Timur, not Timurf.

Safak Timur reported from Istanbul, and Tim Arango from Beirut, Lebanon.

[MikeWB]

Turkey newspaper defiant after raid as police disperse protests
https://news.yahoo.com/turkey-police-plastic-bullets-opposition-paper-rally-005554521.html

Istanbul (AFP) - A leading Turkish newspaper opposed to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and seized by authorities warned of the "darkest days" in the history of the press Saturday in a defiant edition as police used rubber bullets to disperse a new protest.

The late-night swoop against the Zaman newspaper raised fresh concerns over declining media freedoms in Turkey, a key European Union ally, ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to Brussels Monday for a crucial summit meeting with EU leaders.

Zaman, closely linked to Erdogan's arch-foe, the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, was on Friday placed under the control of a board of trustees after a court order which critics said was another attempt to silence opposition media.

"The Constitution is suspended," the newspaper, which managed to print its latest issue despite the takeover, said on its front page in large font on a black background.

"Yesterday (Friday) marked one of the darkest days in the history of Turkish press," it said.

Turkish riot police on Saturday fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse a new protest by the newspaper's supporters outside its Istanbul headquarters.

View galleryA group of women appear engulfed in smoke as tear gas …
A group of women appear engulfed in smoke as tear gas is used to disperse the crowds outside the Zam ...
"Free press cannot be silenced," a group of demonstrators shouted.

Police used large amounts of tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets to disperse around 500 people, an AFP photographer at the scene reported.

Zaman, with an estimated circulation of 650,000, went to print earlier than usual on Friday evening before the police raid and the number of its pages was reduced to 16 from 24, one of its journalists said.

- 'Legal process' -

Sevgi Akarcesme, the editor-in-chief of the paper's English language edition Today's Zaman, said on Twitter on Saturday that the newspaper office had had all Internet connections cut.

View galleryA plainclothes police officer kicks a demonstrator …
A plainclothes police officer kicks a demonstrator as Turkish anti-riot police break up demonstratio ...
"We are not able to work anymore," she wrote.

During Friday's raid, police first cleared protesters with tear gas and water cannon, then used bolt-cutters to open the gates before dozens of officers marched in to take over the building and formally place it under administration, media images showed.

Once the building was cleared, court-appointed administrators were bussed inside the complex to begin their work, local media reported.

The new administrators on Saturday fired Zaman's editor-in-chief Abdulhamit Bilici, press reports said.

On an official visit to Iran, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu denied any government interference in the seizure of the newspaper.


"They are certainly not political but legal processes," he said in remarks carried by Turkish television.

"Turkey is a state governed by rule of law... It is out of the question for neither by me nor any of my colleague to interfere in this process," he said.

But he cautioned: "We should not shut our eyes to ... a parallel structure within the state using the press and other tools" to promote its agenda.

The raid prompted a worried response from the European Union, which urged Ankara to respect media freedom.

"The EU has repeatedly stressed that Turkey, as (an EU) candidate country, needs to respect and promote high democratic standards and practices, including freedom of the media," the EU's diplomatic service said in a statement.


The Russian foreign ministry called for a probe by the international community including the Council of Europe into the crackdown.

"It is essential that Ankara respect European and international requirements concerning freedom of speech and freedom of press," a ministry spokeswoman said.

Washington also urged Turkey to protect freedom of speech, saying the court order was "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."

Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher for Human Rights Watch, called the court order "a veiled move by the president to eradicate opposition media and scrutiny of government policies."

Ankara accuses Gulen of running what it calls the Fethullahci Terror Organisation/Parallel State Structure (FeTO/PDY) and seeking to overthrow the legitimate Turkish authorities.

Local media said the court order was issued on the grounds that Zaman supported the activities of this "terror organisation".

Gulen has been based in the United States since 1999 when he fled charges against him laid by the former secular authorities.

Despite living outside of Turkey, Gulen has built up huge influence in the country through allies in the police and judiciary, media and financial interests and a vast network of cramming schools.

There have been numerous legal crackdowns on structures linked to the group and on Friday Turkish police arrested four executives of one of the country's largest conglomerates, accusing them of financing Gulen.

The Zaman seizure is the latest incident to raise concerns about freedom of expression in Turkey under Erdogan's rule.

The daily Cumhuriyet newspaper's editor-in-chief Can Dundar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul were released on an order from Turkey's top court last week after three months in jail on charges of publishing state secrets.

But they still face trial on March 25.

[MikeWB]

See how a Turkish newspaper transformed into a government 'propaganda machine' overnight

    * Natasha Bertrand
    *

    * Mar. 6, 2016, 10:37

The first issue of Turkey's largest opposition newspaper, Zaman, was released Sunday since it was seized by the government in a midnight Saturday raid. It was met with widespread condemnation.

As many noted on Twitter, the paper's front page appeared to have transformed overnight into a "propaganda machine" for the regime. It mentioned nothing about the raid on Zaman's headquarters the night before and featured headlines praising the government's work on a new bridge and its strengthening business ties with Iran.

Here is the cover:



    In less than 48 hours, the new admin turned seized Zaman into a propaganda piece of the regime in Turkey. pic.twitter.com/ORAAo0r7Ws
    — Sevgi Akarcesme (@SevgiAkarcesme) March 6, 2016

The last "free" issue of Zaman was released the day before it was seized. The headline read, "Constitution suspended," above an excerpt from Turkey's constitution that forbids seizure of printing houses and press equipment:



Many of Zaman's journalists were preparing for the raid after a court ordered that the paper be confiscated for allegedly acting as a mouthpiece for the "Fethullahist Terrorist Organization/Parallel State Structure (FETÖ/PDY)."

The "parallel state structure" is what Turkish President Recep Erdogan calls the Gülen movement — a social movement led by the Turkish scholar and preacher Fethullah Gülen that is openly critical of Erdogan's government.

It is not the first time Zaman has been targeted. Zaman's then-editor in chief, Ekrem Dumanli, was arrested in December 2014 on charges of forming and leading a terrorist organization. He he was released five days later.

Sevgi Akarcesme, editor-in-chief of Zaman's English-language counterpart Today's Zaman, was put on trial in August after Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, a member of the ruling AKP party, sued her for "insulting" him on Twitter. Akarcesme had tweeted that "Davutoğlu, the prime minister of the government that covered up the corruption investigation, has eliminated press freedom in Turkey."

Zaman's management and editorial boards have been replaced by a three-member board consisting of pro-government "trustees." The paper's current editor-in-chief, Abdülhamit Bilici, had his contract voided by the trustees.

In a statement, US State Department spokesman John Kirby called the takeover "troubling."

http://www.businessinsider.com/zaman-takeover-turkey-pro-government-2016-3

[MikeWB]

This is absolutely fascinating... a NATO ally and EU's "partner" is quickly becoming a full-blown dictatorship and US and EU do nothing. EU is afraid of millions of refugees streaming over and US doesn't want to lose bases in Turkey.

In the end, this will end up in a civil war and Turkey will be partitioned.