Turkish PM acknowledges phone call to media executive


Date posted: February 12, 2014

ANKARA

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has acknowledged that he called a media executive at the height of the Gezi protests to order the removal of news content, days after an alleged phone transcript of the exchanged was leaked online, sparking anger over political pressure on the media.

“About the phone call from Morocco, yes indeed, I called. I only made some reminders. And those
individuals to whom I conveyed the reminders regarding the news ticker did what was necessary,” Erdoğan said Feb. 11 following a journalist’s question during a joint press conference in Ankara with visiting Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy.

“When such insults are made, I or my friends call to tell [newspaper executives] … I don’t know if it is wrong [telling them] this. But we have to teach such things because the insults that were being made were not ordinary,” Erdoğan said.

In the recording, Erdoğan is heard demanding that private broadcaster Habertürk’s executive remove a news ticker feed referring to a statement by Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli at the height of the Gezi Park resistance last June. In the news ticker, Bahçeli called on President Abdullah Gül to “do his duty” and intervene in the Gezi protests, and it was not clear to which “extraordinary insults” the prime minister was referring.

Erdoğan’s statements came after the editor-in-chief of daily Habertürk, owned by the same media group, also acknowledged regular phone calls from government officials, publicly claiming to be under constant political pressure.

Erdoğan also lashed out at claims based on other leaked phone recordings that he instructed a group of businessman to create a pool to collect money in order to buy daily Sabah and its sister television channel, ATV.

“First of all, you use the expression ‘pool.’ This is something that you make up. What pool? The company which undertook a step regarding [Sabah-ATV] is not any company,” Erdoğan said referring to a construction company, which is also part of the consortium that recently won a tender for the construction of Istanbul’s third airport, which has been criticized on the grounds that it will destroy the city’s remaining green spaces and water reservoirs.

Tension erupted during the press statement when the reporter of a daily close to the movement of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, which Erdoğan accuses of orchestrating graft probes, took the floor to ask a question over the legality of his summer houses on the Aegean coast.

“Do not use expressions such as ‘there are claims.’ Say instead, ‘We claim,’ because behind all these claims, there are your executives. You only act according to how the place abroad that you are connected to commands you to do so,” Erdoğan said, while denying that he owned the houses.

“They are owned by a friend very dear to me. This terrain is not the property of the Treasury. But unfortunately, because your bosses have made a profession about not telling the truth, they [think] that slander leaves a mark. You cannot stain the prime minister over this. Neither your power nor your documents will be enough,” Erdoğan said.

Turkey’s mainstream media has been under constant fire since last year’s Gezi Park protests and the recent graft probes for yielding to political pressure from the government.

Source: Hurriyet Daily , February 12, 2014


Related News

65-year-old grandmother looking after twin babies as mother, father in jail for 5 months

Twin daughters of the Istanbul-based Şengün family were handed over to their 65-year-old grandmother as both E. Şengün and his wife F. were arrested after being kept under detention for 30 days. They are about to turn one with no father or mother in company.

‘Ekol Hoca’ center of attention on Periscope with his ’online prep school’

A Turkish teacher known as “Ekol Hoca” who has been providing online lessons to students, especially those preparing for nationwide exams amid government’s efforts to shut down prep schools, via live video streaming application Periscope has attracted attention after the CEO of Periscope expressed his gratitude to the teacher.

Smear campaign against Gülen fails after new details emerge on eavesdropping

The defamation campaign against the Gülen or Hizmet movement, which the Turkish president and his political Islamist Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government accuse of illegally wiretapping government officials, collapsed after it became clear that foreign security and intelligence agencies were involved in eavesdropping on senior Turkish officials.

Rule of law(lessness) in Turkey?

It turned out that I was overly optimistic, for I did not want to believe that a prime minister who bravely fought the old, authoritarian establishment in the people’s name for years could have changed so much, adopting just the same behavior we were subjected to in the past. I had thought that those bitter experiences were only a distant memory. Unfortunately, I was wrong — terribly so.

Arrested journalist: I am on guard duty for democracy

Samanyolu TV Group General Manager Hidayet Karaca, who has been under arrest since a government-backed police operation against independent media outlets on Dec. 14, 2014, stated in a letter on Monday that his imprisonment for the last 66 days without legal justification is a result of his being on guard duty for democracy.

Opposing the majority

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) will not back down from its decision to close prep schools, despite ongoing discussion on the matter and deepening polarization over the government’s move. Only 21 percent of people polled support the government’s move, according to a survey conducted by Mak Danışmanlık (Mak Consultancy).

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Prep school debate [in Turkey] continues

Criminal complaint filed against media organizations publishing Gülen’s speeches

Opposition condemns Erdoğan’s vindictive remarks against Gülen movement

Professor Wagner: With Gülen, the key is love

Hizmet movement and military coups

Mining disaster victims commemorated by Senegalese students

Islamic scholar Gülen files libel case against PM Erdoğan

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News