Turkish Gov’t media targets exiled journalists, their lives at risk


Date posted: September 27, 2016

Following President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s statement that no country is safe for Gülen movement sympathizers, the pro-Justice and Development Party (AKP) media targeted exiled journalists in the US and Europe on Monday.

The Sabah daily, which was run by Serhat Albayrak, brother of Berat Albayrak, the son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, published a story on Monday about investigative journalist Aydoğan Vatandaş, who lives in the US, claiming that he was whistleblower “Fuat Avni.” Publishing secretly taken photos and videos of Vatandaş, who used to write articles for The Huffington Post and Today’s Zaman, the daily labeled him a terrorist.

In another story published by the pro-Erdoğan daily Yeni Şafak, exiled journalists, including former Today’s Zaman Editor-in-Chief Bülent Keneş, were claimed to be living in Europe and engaged in efforts to create a multilingual news website with funds supplied by Germany and Austria. The daily also claimed that Gülen sympathizer journalists have been working on a TV channel in Germany.

The AKP government has speeded up a media crackdown since a July 15 foiled coup attempt. The government has closed down more than 130 media organizations and jailed in excess of 120 journalists. Dozens of critical journalists have left Turkey due to the crackdown.

The news stories came after President Erdoğan on Sept. 19 threatened followers of the faith-based Gülen movement living all over the world, saying that no country is safe for them.

“No country, no region anywhere in the world, is a safe haven for FETÖ [an acronym the government has been using to refer to the Gülen movement] and militants,” said Erdoğan during a press conference at İstanbul Atatürk Airport, before flying to New York for the UN General Assembly.

In August, the pro-government media threatened critical journalists with extrajudicial killings. During a program on Kanal 24, Ersoy Dede and Hikmet Genc were discussing how to get rid of critical journalists living in exile by bringing to mind the ASALA case.

Dede said that “In this country, I witnessed how ASALA was finished [off]. One morning we will wake up and see some scum being caught at Sabiha Gokcen Airport. The media will cover the story like this: “Tuncay Opcin, Emre Uslu and Ekrem Dumanli …”

Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) has been tasked with locating, arresting and even killing military officers who fled Turkey after allegedly taking part in a failed coup attempt in July, according a story in the Vatan daily on Aug. 30.

Source: Turkish Minute , September 26, 2016

Tags: | | | |


Related News

“Reserve in your heart a seat for all” – Friendship Dinner in Rochester, NY

“Reserve in your heart a seat for all”, a memorable quote by Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish civic activist and the Peace Island Institute’s Honorary President, could have been the slogan for the evening. The Peace Island Institute (PII) branch for Upstate New York in Rochester was celebrating its 11th Annual Friendship Dinner with Award Ceremony at the Double Tree Hilton in Henrietta

Mother of 6 under arrest as police fail to locate husband suspected of Gulen links

Meryem Senturk, a Zonguldak woman and a mother of six, was arrested after police failed to locate his husband who has been under investigation over his alleged links to the Gulen movement, on July 19.

3-year-old child with fever denied treatment as father under arrest over Gülen links

A three-year-old child with high fever has been denied treatment at a hospital since his father was arrested over alleged links to the Gülen movement, leading a suspension in the kid’s subscription to the nation-wide social security system.

5 children abandoned in front of prison as mother detained

A video shared on social media shows five children left alone in tears in front of a Prison in Ankara after their mother was detained while they were visiting their father in prison. In the video a child opens the door of a car in the prison parking lot, showing his brothers crying, and says in tears, “We are five brothers, left alone. We have a handicapped brother. I commend those people to God’s punishment.”

Right to dissent in Turkey

The primary reason why members of Hizmet (Service), a faith-based social movement inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, have been attacked, vilified and stigmatized by a government that is dominated by overzealous political Islamists and pro-Iranian sympathizers is that Gülen is standing up to the increasingly authoritarian powers of Erdoğan, who has seized control of the republic’s institutions including the judiciary, leading to increased polarization and tension in Turkish society.

ESİDEF: Targets doubled despite intimidation

Federation of the Aegean and Mediterranean Industrialists and Businesspeople (ESİDEF) President Mustafa Çelik said anti-democratic rhetoric and intimidating speeches against the business world in Turkey have motivated them to double their targets.

Latest News

Sacramento leaders gather for Iftar dinner in celebration of Ramadan

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

In Case You Missed It

In rare interview: Fethullah Gulen rebukes Turkish regime

Today’s Zaman celebrates 6th anniversary with columnists, editors

Response to aspersion on Hizmet

Gülen’s lawyer condemns Erdoğan’s accusations, TÜSİAD calls for sanity in country

Fethullah Gulen’s interview with The Wall Street Journal

How Erdogan is covering up the corruption scandal

Fethullah Gulen’s statement on World Press Freedom Day

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News