Turkish newspaper ‘Zaman’ shuts down in Germany amid ‘threats’


Date posted: September 9, 2016

The Turkish-language newspaper “Zaman” will stop operations in Germany after “threats” to readers, a staff member has said. The Turkish government took over the paper in Turkey itself in March.

Zaman” would stop publishing its print edition in Germany by November 30 to avoid “harm to staff or subscribers,” Süleyman Bag, a member of the paper’s management, told German broadcaster hr on Friday.

“Our subscribers are being visited; they are being threatened that if they continue to subscribe, they will have problems,” Bag said. He added that the current situation in Turkey, where the government is carrying out a wide-ranging media purge, was spilling over into Germany.

Mustafa Altas, a member of the newspaper’s board, said it was still unclear whether the internet version of the newspaper, “Zaman-online,” would continue its German operations.

The French and Belgian editions of the newspaper have already stopped publishing due to threats.

Journalists at risk

The Turkish government has been carrying out a purge of media outlets, the army, the judiciary and academia following a failed coup in July that Ankara blames on followers of the exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen. Until its takeover by the government in March, “Zaman” had close ties to Gülen’s Hizmet movement.

Ankara has often called for Gülen’s extradition from the US

In Germany, there have been reports of alleged “Gülenists” being targeted, sometimes physically, by German Turks loyal to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Germany has the second-largest Turkish population in the world after Turkey itself.

Turkey has closed more than 130 media outlets and arrested more than 60 journalists in its post-coup crackdown since July 15, according to the Brussels-based European Federation of Journalists.

Deutsche Welle on Thursday received the support of press rights groups after Turkish authorities earlier this week seized footage of a DW interview with the sports minister.

 

Source: Deutsche Welle , September 9, 2016


Related News

Turkey Targets Gulen-Inspired Projects Around the World

In past years, big names in South Africa picked up the annual Gulen Peace Award, a local accolade inspired by a Turkish preacher who has been blamed by Turkey for an attempted coup last month.

‘Humiliating people not allowed in Islam’

A man identified as Mustafa Petek asked the Religious Affairs Directorate on March 24 if Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the Hizmet movement, deserves to be a target of hate speech by state officials. The Religious Affairs Directorate, in response to the man’s query on hate speech, said, “In Islam, no one is allowed to humiliate a person or refer to him using adjectives that don’t represent him.”

Crackdown on journalists leaves void in post-coup Turkey

That is down in large part to the gutting of Turkey’s independent press. More than 115 journalists have been imprisoned and hundreds more fired since the July 15th coup attempt, while 130 media outlets have been shuttered. That, in addition to the sacking of more than 1,000 media workers in the previous 12 months, has left crucial questions unanswered. Put simply, there is no one left – or willing – to overturn the stones on which the failed military takeover was built.

Netherlands poised to cancel status of Islamic university over rector’s discriminatory remarks

Dutch Education Minister Jet Bussemaker announced that there is a parliamentary debate over the Islamic University of Rotterdam for cancellation of the “university status” of the institution due to Rector Ahmet Akgündüz’s repeatedly hateful and discriminatory remarks against Turkey’s minorities and the Gülen movement.

Turkish Schools Win Five Medals in a Project Competition in Romania

HAYRI GUL, MUSTAFA GUN Turkish Schools have signed their names to a huge success by winning five medals in the 3rd International Info Matrix Computer Project Competition organized in Romania. Six schools from various cities in Turkey took part in the international project competition “Info Matrix 2005” organized by the Lumina Education Institutions. Turkish schools […]

40 CSOs in US slam hate speech being used by gov’t officials

NEW YORK A total of 40 civil society organizations serving in various states of the US under the umbrella of the Houston-based Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians (TCAE) have criticized the hateful language adopted by top government officials after a major corruption scandal erupted back in December, saying that society is deliberately being polarized […]

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

Visually impaired journalist’s letter shows he can barely survive in prison

Will Turkey’s assassinations reach America?

Neither conservative nor democrat

Pacifica Institute Utah hosts ‘Love is a Verb’ screening for interfaith season

Fethullah Gülen donates $10,000 for victims of Typhoon Haiyan disaster in Philippines

Why does the West love the Gülen movement so much?

MEP: International investigation into Turkey’s rule of law needed

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News