White House concerned over arrest of Turkish journalists
The WHITE HOUSE
Date posted: December 16, 2014
White House has expressed concerns over the arrest of Turkish journalists, including Zaman daily editor-in-chief Ekrem Dumanlı, called on Ankara to conduct investigations in a manner consistent with the rule of law.
“We noted with concern the arrests of a number of journalists and other members of the media over the weekend,” White House National Security Council spokesman, Mark Stroh, said in a statement on Monday. He added that Washington has long maintained that freedom of the press is an essential element in all healthy, successful democracies.
“We urge the Turkish authorities to conduct investigations quickly, transparently, and in a manner consistent with the rule of law,” the statement stated.
Turkish media has been facing an unprecedented crackdown as the executives of Turkey’s two leading media outlets have been, since Sunday, in custody and are being questioned as part of a government-orchestrated police operation that has dealt a heavy blow to freedom of the press.
Dumanlı, Samanyolu Broadcasting Group General Manager Hidayet Karaca along with other journalists, scriptwriters, columnists, producers were detained in a sweeping operation on Sunday.
Expert’s opinion: Turkey’s Demanding Extradition Of Fethullah Gülen Is Frivolous Grandstanding
Although ordinarily I respect his cool-headedness and self-control, in hindsight I wish President Obama had been equally blunt in responding to President Erdoğan’s demands that the US extradite Fethullah Gülen. All of his demands, beginning in 2014 and vigorously renewed in the wake of the July 15 attempted coup, have been completely illegitimate and unfair.
The Islamic roots of the conflict in Turkey
he roots of the Gülen movement go back to Said Nursi (1878-1960), a preacher from Eastern Anatolia whose teachings (the Nurcu movement) emphasized the compatibility of Islam with rationalism, science and positivism. Nursi’s main contribution to Islam was a 6,000-page commentary he wrote on the Quran. This body of work is known as the “Risale-i Nur” (The Light Collection) and advocates the teaching of modern sciences in religious schools as the way of the future for an Islamic age of enlightenment.
Wiretapped recordings erased on orders of new police chief
Earlier this year, claims emerged in the media that police officials in the Diyarbakır Police Department who are members of the Hizmet movement carried out a number of illegal wiretaps since 2008. The prosecutor, unconvinced by the police department’s response, began to examine the circumstances surrounding the whereabouts of the recordings. He questioned several police officers from the department and found that the recordings had been erased on the order of Police Chief Halis Böğürcü, who was appointed head of the Diyarbakır Police Department in early January.
Turkish PM acknowledges phone call to media executive
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.
In Conversation with Fethullah Gülen (Interview in Asharq Al-Awsat-I)
While it is a movement inspired by faith, this [Hizmet movement] community of volunteers develops and delivers reasonable and universally acceptable projects which are in full compliance with humanitarian values and which aim to promote individual freedoms, human rights and peaceful coexistence for all people regardless of their faith.
Why Erdoğan exploits anti-American sentiments
With dangerous and discriminatory language, PM Erdoğan exploits anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiment in Turkish society to demonize his opponents. Can Erdoğan win this game? If Erdoğan were confident enough about the corruption case, maybe he could. Instead of letting justice run its proper course, he used his political power to intervene in the judiciary and police forces. This must be considered the most important indicator of his fall.
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