Turkish journalist at daily Bugün is threatened


Date posted: February 20, 2014

ANKARA

A journalist at the Ankara branch of the daily Bugün has claimed that he received a threatening phone call which he describes as “insulting and discomforting.” The threat follows recent similar claims by Cüneyt Özdemir, a writer at the newspaper Radikal and anchor of the 5N 1K program broadcast by the CNN Türk TV station.

 

Adem Yavuz Arslan said in an interview with Today’s Zaman that he was threatened by a columnist at a Turkish newspaper, and that the columnist claimed to have read a report prepared by the Prime Ministry Inspection Board (PMIB). Arslan’s name was in the report, the columnist said, because Arslan is accused of cooperating with an anti-government gang in the police department.

“If there is an operation, you will be arrested,” Arslan quoted the columnist as saying. “Some people from the pro-government media are calling journalists from other news outlets and are threatening them; one of those journalists is me,” Arslan continued. He also claimed that the columnist advised him to choose carefully whether he is pro-government or working for the opposition, because he might “have a bad experience.”

Arslan described the incident as “insulting and discomforting,” and said that “there is a slander campaign going against writers and correspondents, whereby a police operation is mentioned, and a warning that they risk being arrested. And it is all being organized by government officials,” Arslan alleged. “Just because it’s possible to assert the existence of a gang, it does not follow that 40 innocent people are in the gang.”

 

Ever since a bribery and corruption scandal erupted on Dec. 17 last year, which resulted in the detention of the sons of some government ministers and certain businessmen close to the government, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has described the corruption investigation as a “dirty operation” aimed at toppling his government. He says a gang nested within the state — referring to members of the Hizmet movement — in collaboration with foreign powers, is behind the operation.

Source: Todays Zaman , February 20, 2014


Related News

Turkish gov’t jailed not only journalist Karaca, but also his lawyers and the judges who ruled to release him

The trial of Turkish journalist Hidayet Karaca (55) has already taken its place in judicial history because not only has he been persecuted by the Turkish government but also both his lawyers and the judges who ruled to release him from jail have been imprisoned.

The story of the government media’s smear campaign against Hizmet

The pro-government media — or more correctly the “government media,” as it has become apparent that they have been bought by businessmen under orders from the prime minister — has manufactured and published lies about the Hizmet movement, which has a four-decade proud history in Turkey, in an attempt to create the perception that it is a criminal organization.

AK Party’s Deputy Günay joins intra-party opposition to prep school ban

Another deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has criticized a recent government plan to shut down prep schools, saying that these institutions are not the cause of problems in the education system but a consequence of the current system. Günay’s remarks come one day after the AK Party referred Kütahya deputy İdris Bal to the party’s disciplinary board for expulsion after he opposed the government’s plan to close prep schools.

Turkey’s Erdogan exploiting failed coup to crush dissent, tighten grip on power

After a searing summer that has already featured a failed military coup, spectacular terrorist attacks and now a new war across the border in Syria, Turkey’s cultural elite is watching with increased unease as authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rides a wave of nationalism that they fear will be used to brand his critics as enemies of the state.

Hizmet-affiliated schools removed from private school incentive list

The Hizmet schools were in the original list of those institutions which met all the criteria for eligibility to receive financial incentives to accept these students. Announced on Monday, the schools were listed on the ministry’s website until Thursday afternoon, when they were taken off without any explanation. However, an official written notice sent from the ministry to governorates on Thursday said: “It was not deemed proper to give such incentives to education institutions whose managers are under fiscal investigation and interrogation within the scope of the Law No. 5549 on the Prevention of Laundering of Crime Revenues and those that had received punishments fiscal irregularities after due inspections before,” and asked the governorates do what the notice requires.

CHP leader calls on PM Erdoğan for explanation on action plan against Gülen movement

Republican People’s Party (CHP) head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has called on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to explain why he signed a National Security Council (MGK) decision in 2004 recommending an action plan against the Gülen movement. “The fact that Erdoğan has [avoided] speaking on such an important matter proves his culpability,” Kılıçdaroğlu argued, accusing the government of hypocrisy.

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

General Staff ordered broadcasting of anti-Gülen recordings

Halki, pope, patriarch and Gülen

Mother of four under detention for months on coup charges

Hizmet movement demonized by Erdogan regime but loved abroad

Why did Fethullah Gülen visit John Paul II?

Turkish Cultural Center in West Haven hit with graffiti in wake of unrest

Volunteer website serves as reference tool about Hizmet movement

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News