Turkish journalist tells Staten Island group about censorship in his country

Turkish journalist Aydogan Vatandas speaks during an evening event titled,
Turkish journalist Aydogan Vatandas speaks during an evening event titled, "Democracy and Freedom of Press in Turkey" held in the Turkish Cultural Center in Dongan Hills. (Courtesy of the Turkish Cultural Center).


Date posted: March 29, 2015

KIAWANA RICH / STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.

Turkish journalist Aydogan Vatandas warned Friday night at the Turkish Cultural Center of Staten Island in Dongan Hills that freedom of the press in his country is under siege.

He was the guest speaker during an event titled “Democracy and Freedom of the Press in Turkey,” which explored the nation’s long and difficult history with the media – a relationship that has often included extreme censorship.

Vatandas declared: “Respected institutions in the world, like Freedom House, have been saying this, but let me also say: Freedom of expression in Turkey has hit a new low.”

The investigative journalist said Turkey’s strained history with the media traces back to the country’s roots as part of the Ottoman Empire, which reigned until 1923. He said even back then the media was censored, with government officials often preventing freedom of the press or using the media for their own purposes.

That censorship continued through World War I and World War II, and while there were brief points where freedom of reporting was encouraged, the lockdown on the media continues to this day under current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Vatandas said Erdogan has control of the country’s biggest news channels directly and threatens others, leaving him with indirect control over those as well.

He said Erdogan also indirectly controls the Demirören media group, which includes the Milliyet and Vatan dailies. The total circulation of these two newspapers is about 262,000 on daily basis.

While these two newspapers have only 5.5 percent of the entire circulation in the country, they have the most visited web news sites in Turkey.

The prime minister, added Vatandas, also uses the advertising monies of many governmental organizations to fund the pro-government media sites and newly established news sites as well.

He noted censorship of the media has led to imprisonment of Turkish journalists, such as prominent investigative reporter Mehmet Baransu.

Baransu, whom Vatandas has worked with, disclosed plans for a coup in 2010 in a story he wrote. Even so, he has been imprisoned now without any legal basis.

“He was a hero five years ago and he was no threat, but when the situation changed … he is now in jail because of stories he wrote,” said Vatandas.

He added Turkish journalist and television personality Sedef Kabas had recently tweeted a comment about prosecutors dropping charges in an investigation of a high-ranking Turkish official. “Because of that tweet police officers came to her home and detained her,” said Vatandas. “Her case is still going on.”

Vatandas noted that with social media in Turkey, including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, “the government has the authority to close down any accounts.”

Citing Turkish novelist and Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, Vatandas said: “I have never seen any country where so many journalists are being fired … even the journalists who are closest to the government….

“Everybody is frightened. People want to say some things, but fear being fired. This is not normal. The pressure makes those who speak boldly more important. Courage comes to the fore, rather than creative thinking.”

Source: Silive.com , March 27, 2015


Related News

Erdogan purge far worse than the McCarthy era

What is happening in Turkey right now makes the McCarthy era in the US look like a picnic. When communists were targeted under McCarthyism they were blacklisted; hundreds were jailed, and many were compelled to leave the country. In Turkey it is not communists, but Gulenists. Anyone remotely associated with the Gulen movement is being rounded up and jailed – not by the hundreds, but by the tens of thousands.

4 Turks deported from Saudi Arabia sent to jail over donations to Gülen movement

An Ankara court sent to jail 4 out of 16 Turkish nationals who were deported back to home from Saudi Arabia as part of Turkey’s ever-growing crackdown against the Gülen movement that that has spread to overseas in the recent past.

‘Inception,’ the Gülen community and the PKK

Kurtuluş Tayiz I have been following anti-Fethullah Gülen broadcasts in the Kurdish media for some time now. Television stations, newspapers and Internet sites known for their closeness to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have incessantly been spreading hostility amongst its readers against Gülen. It wouldn’t be so difficult to understand if most of these publications […]

PM Erdoğan continues with insults, threats against Hizmet movement

Erdoğan put the blame on the “parallel state,” claiming that the whole thing was a plot against the government. Instead of explaining why manager of public bank Halkbank had $4.5 million placed in shoeboxes and why son of former minister of interior, had TL 1.5 million ($0.7 million) in safety boxes in his house when police arrived to take them under custody.

Fethullah Gulen, the [Gulen] community, and the prep schools

It is no secret that my bonds of affection with the wise religious leader Fethullah Gulen and his movement go back more than twenty years. I trust that Hocaefendi, with his endless sense of fairness, is aware of this situation. He feels offended firstly because the government signed the National Security Council’s brief without hesitation, and secondly because it has profiled [both him and the movement]. In any case, resisting the closure of the movement’s prep schools is the same as resisting an authoritarian course of events!

Georgia refuses refugee status to detained ‘Gülen school manager’

Georgia’s Ministry of Refugees has refused to grant a refugee status to Mustafa Emre Çabuk, a manager at the Private Demirel College, a school linked to Turkish opposition political figure Fethullah Gülen. Mr Çabuk was detained in Tbilisi on Turkey’s request.

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

A rift between the Hizmet movement and the AK Party?

TUSKON brings together businesswomen from Turkey, Russia

Pak-Turk Schools react to baseless claims

Turkish School strengthens ties with Turkmenistan

State Department: US concerned by rhetoric from Turkey on Russian envoy killing

Government carried out a “controlled” coup in an attempt to exploit its outcomes: Opposition leader

“Here today, the Honorable Gulen’s vision is coming true”, says Malian Minister

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News