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Turkish police fire teargas and raid top-selling newspaper after seizure order Turkish police fire teargas during raid on top-selling newspaper
(35 minutes later)
Turkish police fired teargas and used water cannon on a crowd to forcibly enter the offices of the country’s top-selling newspaper after a court ordered its confiscation. Turkish authorities have seized control of the country’s largest newspaper in a widening crackdown against supporters of the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, an influential foe of the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Several hundred supporters had gathered outside Zaman newspaper on Friday to protest against the ruling, which state media said was issued after a request by a prosecutor investigating the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Police fired teargas and water cannons on Friday to disperse a few thousand supporters who gathered outside the offices of the Zaman newspaper and chanted: “Free press cannot be silenced.”
Gulen, once a close ally of the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, now stands accused of plotting to topple the government after a corruption scandal was leaked in 2013 by police suspected of belonging to his religious movement. Rights groups and European officials criticised the confiscation of Zaman and its sister publication, the English-language Today’s Zaman, which occurred on the eve of a summit between Turkey and the European Union and as concerns mount that the Turkish government is stifling critical media.
It was unclear how the paper’s sister publications, including the English-language Today’s Zaman, would be affected.“This means the practical end of media freedom in Turkey. The media has always been under pressure, but it has never been so blatant,” Sevgi Akarcesme, editor-in-chief of Today’s Zaman, told Reuters. Zaman is linked to Gulen’s movement. Erdoğan accuses the cleric of conspiring to overthrow the government by building a network of supporters in the judiciary, police and media. Gulen denies the charges. The two men were allies until police and prosecutors seen as sympathetic to Gulen opened a corruption probe into Erdoğan’s inner circle in 2013.
Administrators were appointed to run Zaman at the request of an Istanbul prosecutor, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Officials were not immediately available to confirm the reports. “This means the practical end of media freedom in Turkey. The media has always been under pressure, but it has never been so blatant,” Sevgi Akarçeşme, the editor-in-chief of Today’s Zaman, told Reuters.
“Taking over a newspaper is against the constitution, especially since there are no grounds for it. This amounts to the suspension of the constitution.”“Taking over a newspaper is against the constitution, especially since there are no grounds for it. This amounts to the suspension of the constitution.”
Zaman is Turkey’s biggest selling newspaper, with a circulation of 650,000 as of the end of February, according to media-sector monitor MedyaTava website. Abdülhamit Bilici, the editor-in-chief of Zaman, said: “It has been a habit for the last three, four years, that anyone who is speaking against government policies is facing either court cases or prison, or such control by the government. This is a dark period for our country, our democracy.”
Erdoğan has accused Gulen of operating a “parallel state structure” bent on toppling him. Zaman is Turkey’s biggest selling newspaper, with a circulation of 650,000 as of the end of February, according to MedyaTava, a website monitoring the media sector.
Government officials have also accused Gulen’s followers of having ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Gulen denies such links and describes the PKK as a terrorist organisation. Police in riot gear pushed back Zaman supporters who stood in the rain outside its Istanbul office where they waved Turkish flags and carried placards reading “Hands off my newspaper” before they were overcome by clouds of teargas, live footage on Zaman’s website showed.
Officers then forcibly broke down a gate and rushed into the building. The footage showed them scuffling with Zaman staff inside the offices.
“Zaman Media Group being silenced in Turkey. Crackdown on press freedom continues sadly,” Kati Piri, the European parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, tweeted.
The EU is accused of turning a blind eye to Turkey’s human rights breaches, including the deaths of hundreds of civilians during security operations against Kurdish militants, because it needs Turkey’s help curbing the flow of migrants.