Dismissed top editor of Zaman: We made a mistake by not objecting to the imprisonment of journalists


Date posted: February 20, 2017

Journalist Abdulhamit Bilici, who was dismissed as editor-in-chief of Zaman following the brutal seizure of Turkey’s largest media group on March 4, 2016, said in an interview that the media group, which was associated with the Gülen movement, made a mistake by not objecting to the imprisonment of journalists in the late 2000s.

Speaking to the newly established online news website Artı Gerçek on Saturday, Bilici, who is currently in exile, also said the Zaman daily should have kept its distance from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

“We should have objected when journalists were jailed. We made a huge mistake by not doing that. This remains a burden on us,” Bilici said.

Bilici also noted that the media group should have reported the arguments of the suspects in the notorious Erkenekon and Balyoz trials, which initially aimed to eliminate the role of the military in civilian politics by bringing coup plotters and the “deep state” into court.


Journalist Abdulhamit Bilici, who was dismissed as editor-in-chief of Zaman said the Zaman daily should have kept its distance from the ruling AKP. He also said his media group made a mistake by not objecting to the imprisonment of journalists in the late 2000s.


Bilici said that just like Zaman, the European Union also considered these trials as an opportunity for Turkey’s democratization. ¨The progress reports mentioned these trials as opportunities,” Bilici pointed out, but went on to say that Turkey missed the opportunities through mistakes in the trial period and the government’s alliance with the deep state in an effort to cover up corruption cases in December 2013.

Bilici said that even though it was then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who gave the order for the crackdown on the Kurdish political movement in the past, just like now, Erdoğan put all the blame on the Gülen movement.

“Had media outlets such as Zaman and Samanyolu TV criticized operations targeting elected officials [Kurdish politicians] it would not have been so easy to hold the movement responsible for that,” Bilici suggested.

The Zaman daily had the highest circulation in Turkey until the government seized the paper in a police raid in March 2016. The paper was shut down by a decree issued after Turkey experienced a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016. Erdoğan and the government held the Gülen movement responsible for the botched coup immediately and initiated a massive purge.

The media group, Feza, also published the most highly circulated English-language daily Today’s Zaman, Turkey’s largest private news agency Cihan and Aksiyon magazine.

In the interview, Bilici also noted that Today’s Zaman had become critical of the government 5-6 years before Zaman after the government began to move away from European Union values.

The media group witnessed the largest crackdown in Turkey’s history after the failed coup as its employees, including its advertising department manager, have been in pre-trial detention for months on charges of coup plotting and terrorist links.

Source: Turkish Minute , February 18, 2017


Related News

Extradition request for Gülen aims at manipulating public perception

The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) — whose honorary chairman is Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen — has stated that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been trying to create the perception that the Hizmet movement is being backed by the US with his recent request for Gülen’s extradition though there is no legal basis for one.

Should Hizmet establish a political party?

If the Hizmet movement had believed that services to Turkey can best be provided through politics, it would have done so from the beginning. Civil society has a special place in democracies. One can also serve the country by rejecting democratic pressures and upholding rule of law and individual freedoms.

UN slams Thailand, Myanmar over deportation of Turk

The United Nations expressed grave concern on Saturday over the deportation by Myanmar and Thailand of a Turkish national over alleged connections to a July 2016 coup attempt against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Muhammet is at least the sixth person to be deported from Southeast Asia over alleged connections to Gulen’s movement, the UN said.

Today’s Zaman Editor-in-Chief Bülent Keneş released pending trial

The İstanbul 8th Penal Court of Peace ruled on Wednesday to release Today’s Zaman Editor-in-Chief Bülent Keneş pending trial after deliberating on a petition by the lawyers of Keneş, who was arrested on Saturday and detained at Silivri Prison.

Paranoia: Turkish ‘hero’ T-shirts land dozens in jail

Dozens of people are being rounded up all over Turkey for wearing white T-shirts with the word “hero” printed in English across the front. The arrests are being carried out based on the suspicion that the wearers are sympathisers and supporters of Fethullah Gulen.

Hizmet movement and the Kurdish question

Ihsan YILMAZ  June 20, 2012 Hizmet movement (aka Gulen movement) roughly advocated two simultaneous approaches regarding Kurdish question. While the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorism needs security measures as the PKK keeps attacking innocent civilians in the streets by suicide bombings and so on, the wider Kurdish issue needs cultural, socio-economic and political measures. Hizmet […]

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

Terrorists not true Muslims, says scholar

Hizmet is not a terror group, they embraces the entire human family

‘Islam and I’

Hizmet movement has no political ambitions

U.S. schools are indirectly linked to preacher, often well-regarded

Doesn’t Obama know Gülen is in the US?

Turkey’s Erdogan vows to cut off revenues of Gulen-linked businesses

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News