US calls decision by Turkey to seize Zaman newspaper ’troubling’
US State Department Spokesperson John Kirby. (Photo: Cihan)
Date posted: March 5, 2016
REUTERS | WASHINGTON
The US State Department on Friday called the decision by Turkish authorities to seize control of the country’s largest newspaper “troubling.”
“We see this as the latest in a series of troubling judicial and law enforcement actions taken by the Turkish government targeting media outlets and others critical of it,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing.
Turkish authorities seized control of the Zaman newspaper on Friday at the request of an İstanbul prosecutor, state-run Anadolu Agency reported, in a widening crackdown against supporters of US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen.
The Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTÜK) has been harassing TV networks that it deems to be anti-government, and Samanyolu TV has become one of its major targets. The fines have mostly come following the Dec. 17, 2013 corruption operation, in which several businessmen close to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the sons of three ministers were detained over corruption charges.
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2 September 2012 / TODAY’S ZAMAN, ISTANBUL Meral Akşener, a Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy and vice president of Parliament, who was interior minister at the time of the Feb. 28 coup, claimed that The National Security Council (MGK) actually discussed a total of 24 decisions, which included the recitation of the call to prayer […]
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