Unions react to media operation

Silencing Taraf daily

The liberal Taraf daily, where I write a column, is one of the few independent newspapers in this country. Those who don’t know the Turkish media well need to know that media outlets are largely owned by private holdings which have close ties to the government. Thus, Turkish newspapers need to consider whether their reporting would harm their bosses’ business connections with the government.

Post-coup Turkey sliding into terror regime: Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk

Prominent Turkish novelist and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in literature, Orhan Pamuk, has criticized the government’s large-scale crackdown in the aftermath of the failed July 15 coup, warning that Turkey is heading toward “a regime of terror.” “In Turkey, we are dramatically putting behind bars all those who struggle for freedom of expression, and criticize the government even slightly,” Pamuk said on Sunday.

Criminal complaint filed against prosecutor accusing Hizmet of being terrorist

A criminal complaint has been filed against Ankara public prosecutor Serdar Coşkun, who prepared an indictment in which by using false testimonies as evidence he accused several people of conducting organized crime under the Hizmet movement which he claimed to be a terrorist organization.

Turkey’s AKP planning to blame Hizmet movement for Deep State’s crimes

Online government whistleblower Fuat Avni has claimed that the government is concocting a plan to blame the clandestine assassinations of the ‘deep state’ and the violent domestic acts planned by the National Intelligence Agency (MİT) on the Hizmet movement.

Corruption investigation: Questions that will hound PM Erdoğan

Everyone is wondering now what is behind the corruption investigation, and the first “suspect” to come to many minds is the Islamist Gülen movement. Tensions between this group and the AKP have been rising over the years, and boiled over recently due to the prep-school issue – a matter that has received wide media coverage.

The Gülen movement denies this but the vitriol flying between daily Zaman, which is close to Gülen, and Yeni Şafak, which is staunchly pro-AKP, is enough to give one a sense of the bitter struggle involved.

Financial Times: Turkey’s crackdown on dissent has gone too far

More troubling is evidence emerging that his government is now using the attempted coup as a pretext to round up all manner of troublesome opponents, not just the Gulenists. It is also damaging the fabric of Turkish society and undermining its institutions, including the security forces. That is a dangerous move in a country whose immune system is already weakened by jihadism and which is battling armed opponents on several fronts.