Today, the headquarters of among the few remaining independent media outlets were raided by the Erdogan regime. The directors, staff and journalists were forcibly removed from their position and replaced by Erdogan loyalists who pulled the plug on live broadcast.
On Monday October 26, 2015, upon a request by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Ankara 5th Criminal Peace Magistrate ordered that Koza Ipek Holding (with 22 companies) be put under receivership. Trustees from the pro-government Sabah-ATV media group were appointed to replace the current board of directors. After CNN Turk announced the receivership, the shares of Turkish mining firm Koza Altin slid more than 5 percent.
New York-based press advocacy group the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Turkish authorities to immediately release Today’s Zaman Editor-in-Chief Bülent Keneş, condemning the arrest as a “relentless crackdown” on the press.
A group of Japanese journalists who came together with their Turkish colleagues at the Turkey-Japan Media Forum last week in Tokyo expressed shock at the pressure placed on independent media outlets by the Turkish government while speaking about the violation of media freedoms in Turkey.
An organization called the Law and Democracy Foundation which was established by lawyer Mehmet Ali Canlı, a Justice and Development Party (AK Party) hopeful in the June 7 general election, on Wednesday filed a criminal complaint against media organizations that publish the speeches of Fethullah Gülen, a renowned Islamic scholar.
The Alliance for Shared Values denounces the politically-motivated raids on Koza Ipek holding group, publisher of opposition Bugun daily, as well as the arrest of two British journalists and their translator. These disgraceful actions by President Erdogan and his oligarchy are aimed at silencing independent media in preparation for upcoming November elections, and at deflecting criticism resulting from massive government corruption, nepotism and failure to accept election defeat.
Lawyers representing journalist Hidayet Karaca, who remains in prison despite a ruling for his release, have submitted a report drafted by a prominent jurist to the Constitutional Court in which the unlawfulness of Karaca’s arrest was highlighted.
The Fountain is a composition from which our inner calling echoes, a reflection of what is not always visible to the eye, or a response to the yearning deep in the heart and mind which sometimes finds its definition best expressed in a poem, and at other times in a journey into outer space or through the veins of the human body.
Requests submitted by the Samanyolu Group seeking permission for two of its stations to shoot programs in the gardens of two mosques in the Üsküdar district of Istanbul during the holy month of Ramadan have been turned down by the İstanbul Mufti’s Office.