Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 24

Özgür Öğret/CPJ Turkey Representative
In this July 24, 2016, handout photo, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gives the Rabaa salute, a reference to Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawaya Square, where Egyptian soldiers and police in August 2013 killed hundreds of supporters of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi protesting the military's ousting of the Egyptian president in July 2013. (Pool/AP)

In this July 24, 2016, handout photo, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gives the Rabaa salute, a reference to Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawaya Square, where Egyptian soldiers and police in August 2013 killed hundreds of supporters of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi protesting the military's ousting of the Egyptian president in July 2013. (Pool/AP)

At least 48 journalists detained in one week
Police in Turkey detained at least 48 journalists in the past week, according to the independent news website P24 and the Twitter account of Ben Gazeteciyim, a volunteer association of Turkish journalists formed to show solidarity with their threatened colleagues. At the time of publication, 21 of those detained were at Istanbul’s Çağlayan Courthouse being interrogated by prosecutors and waiting to see a judge. Eren Şener, lawyer for journalists Bülent Mumay and Arda Akın, told the news website Bianet that prosecutors had asked his clients about their activity on Twitter, news stories they had written, and whether they viewed the Hizmet movement, which the Turkish government accuses of orchestrating a failed military coup on July 15 that left more than 200 people dead, as a terrorist organization.

According to P24 and Ben Gazeteciyim, the 21 people at Çağlayan Courthouse at the time of publication were:

According to P24 and Ben Gazeteciyim, police also detained the following journalists in the last week:

Government revokes credentials of at least 330 journalists
The General Directorate of Press-Publishing Information (BYEGM), the bureau within the prime minister’s office responsible for issuing press credentials to journalists has revoked the credentials of at least 330 journalists since the failed July 15 coup attempt, BYEGM Deputy Director Ekrem Okutan announced today, according to press reports.

[July 29, 2016]

More than 100 media organizations shuttered by decree
A decree signed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan yesterday shuttered three news agencies, 16 television stations, 23 radio stations, 45 newspapers, 15 magazines, and 29 publishing houses and distribution companies. The decree also ordered the shuttered organizations’ assets to be transferred to the state’s treasury, but stipulated that the state would not assume the organizations’ debts. Going forward, any cabinet member may order the closure of any media organization if he deems it a threat to national security, the decree said. The decree, number 668, was published in Turkey’s Official Gazette (*.pdf) yesterday.The Turkish government alleges that the organizations shuttered by yesterday’s decree are linked to the Hizmet movement, which the government alleges orchestrated a failed July 15 military coup attempt that left more than 200 people dead.

The shuttered media outlets, publishing houses, and distribution companies are as follows:

News Agencies

  1. Cihan Haber Ajansı
  2. Muhabir Haber Ajansı
  3. SEM Haber Ajansı

TV Channels

  1. Barış TV
  2. Bugün TV
  3. Can Erzincan TV
  4. Dünya TV
  5. HİRA TV
  6. Irmak TV
  7. Kanal 124
  8. Kanaltürk
  9. MC TV
  10. Mehtap TV
  11. Merkür TV
  12. Samanyolu Haber
  13. Samanyolu TV
  14. SRT Televizyonu
  15. Tuna Shopping TV
  16. Yumurcak TV

Radio Stations

  1. Aksaray Mavi Radyo
  2. Aktüel Radyo
  3. Berfin FM
  4. Burç FM
  5. Cihan Radyo
  6. Dünya Radyo
  7. Esra Radyo
  8. Haber Radyo Ege
  9. Herkül FM
  10. Jest FM
  11. Kanaltürk Radyo
  12. Radyo 59
  13. Radyo Aile Rehberi
  14. Radyo Bamteli
  15. Radyo Cihan
  16. Radyo Fıkıh
  17. Radyo Küre
  18. Radyo Mehtap
  19. Radyo Nur
  20. Radyo Şemşik
  21. Samanyolu Haber Radyosu
  22. Umut FM
  23. Yağmur FM

Newspapers (local)

  1. Adana Haber Gazetesi
  2. Adana Medya Gazetesi
  3. Akdeniz Türk
  4. Şuhut’un Sesi Gazetesi
  5. Kurtuluş Gazetesi
  6. Lider Gazetesi
  7. İscehisar Durum Gazetesi
  8. Türkeli Gazetesi
  9. Antalya Gazetesi
  10. Yerel Bakış Gazetesi
  11. Nazar
  12. Batman Gazetesi
  13. Batman Postası Gazetesi
  14. Batman Doğuş Gazetesi
  15. Bingöl Olay Gazetesi
  16. İrade Gazetesi
  17. İskenderun Olay Gazetesi
  18. Ekonomi
  19. Ege’de Son Söz Gazetesi
  20. Demokrat Gebze
  21. Kocaeli Manşet
  22. Bizim Kocaeli
  23. Haber Kütahya Gazetesi
  24. Gediz Gazetesi
  25. Zafer Gazetesi
  26. Hisar Gazetesi
  27. Turgutlu Havadis Gazetesi
  28. Milas Feza Gazetesi
  29. Türkiye’de Yeni Yıldız Gazetesi
  30. Hakikat Gazetesi
  31. Urfa Haber Ajansı Gazetesi
  32. Ajans 11 Gazetesi
  33. Yeni Emek
  34. Banaz Postası Gazetesi
  35. Son Nokta Gazetesi
  36. Merkür Haber Gazetesi

Newspapers (national)

  1. Millet Gazetesi
  2. Bugün Gazetesi
  3. Meydan Gazetesi
  4. Özgür Düşünce Gazetesi
  5. Taraf
  6. Yarına Bakış
  7. Yeni Hayat
  8. Zaman Gazetesi
  9. Today’s Zaman

Magazines

  1. Akademik Araştırmalar Dergisi
  2. Aksiyon
  3. Asya Pasifik Dergisi
  4. Bisiklet Çocuk Dergisi
  5. Diyalog Avrasya Dergisi
  6. Ekolife Dergisi
  7. Ekoloji Dergisi
  8. Fountain Dergisi
  9. Gonca Dergisi
  10. Gül Yaprağı Dergisi
  11. Nokta
  12. Sızıntı
  13. Yağmur Dergisi
  14. Yeni Ümit
  15. Zirve Dergisi

Publishing Houses and Distribution Companies

  1. Altınburç Yayınları
  2. Burak Basın Yayın Dağıtım
  3. Define Yayınları
  4. Dolunay Eğitim Yayın Dağıtım
  5. Giresun Basın Yayın Dağıtım
  6. Gonca Yayınları
  7. Gülyurdu Yayınları
  8. GYV Yayınları
  9. Işık Akademi
  10. Işık Özel Eğitim Yayınları
  11. Işık Yayınları
  12. İklim Basın Yayın Pazarlama
  13. Kaydırak Yayınları
  14. Kaynak Yayınları
  15. Kervan Basın Yayıncılık
  16. Kuşak Yayınları
  17. Muştu Yayınları
  18. Nil Yayınları
  19. Rehber Yayınları
  20. Sürat Basım Yayın Reklamcılık Eğitim Araçları
  21. Sütun Yayınları
  22. Şahdamar Yayınları
  23. Ufuk Basın Yayın Haber Ajans Pazarlama
  24. Ufuk Yayınları
  25. Waşanxaneya Nil
  26. Yay Basın Dağıtım
  27. Yeni Akademi Yayınları
  28. Yitik Hazine Yayınları
  29. Zambak Basın Yayın Eğitim Turizm

[July 28, 2016]

Prosecutors issue arrest warrants for another 46 journalists and media workers, detain at least 12 more
Turkish prosecutors issued 46 arrest warrants for journalists, other employees, and shareholders of the Feza Media Group, publishers of Zaman newspaper and its English-language sister publication, Today’s Zaman, the daily Hürriyet newspaper and the official Anatolia news agency reported today. According to Hürriyet, at least 12 of the people on the new list had been arrested by 11:40 a.m. local time.

Pro-government trustees took over the company in March following a court’s ruling that it was linked to the Hizmet movement, former tactical allies of the ruling party now blamed for orchestrating July 15’s failed military coup.

The 46 people whose arrest prosecutors today said they sought were:

According to Hürriyet, the following shareholders in the FIA were in police custody this morning, local time:

Police also detained

Police elected not to execute the arrest warrant for journalist Zeki Önal because of his old age and poor health, Hürriyet reported.

Prosecutors on July 25 announced they had issued arrest warrants for another 42 journalists.

At least 16 journalists detained
Police have detained at least 16 journalists from a list of 42 for whom authorities on July 25 said they had arrest warrants, Hürriyet reported today. According to the newspaper, those journalists are:

Bülent Mumay was formerly an editor with Hürriyet and more recently an editor with the daily newspaper Birgün. After his name appeared on the list of journalists wanted by police on July 25, he wrote on Twitter that he would turn himself in to prosecutors. He and his supporters subsequently planned to go to Çağlayan Courthouse in Istanbul this morning for this purpose, but police detained him last night, Doğan News Agency (DHA) reported.

Anti-Terrorism police detain gendarmes in connection with journalist’s murder
Anti-terrorism police in İstanbul and the northeastern city Trabzon detained four officers in Turkey’s gendarmerie and the owner of a publishing house on suspicion of involvement in the 2007 murder of Hrant Dink, Agos, the newspaper Dink founded, reported today. Authorities have revived the investigation based on the allegation that the Hizmet movement was behind the journalist’s murder.

Four news agency journalists released
Police released DİHA news agency reporters Selami Aslan, Mehmet Sıddık, and JİNHA news agency reporters Esra Aydın and Ceylan Eraslan after two and a half hours yesterday, DİHA and JİNHA reported. Police gave the four no explanation as to the reasons for their detention. They were detained following an identification check while reporting from the bazaar in the Nusaybin district of Mardin , in southeastern Turkey yesterday.

Regulators censor news agency website for 43rd time
The Turkish telecommunications regulator TİB censored the website of the pro-Kurdish news agency DİHA for the 43rd time, DİHA reported today. The TİB also censored the website of the pro-Kurdish daily newspaper Özgür Gündem for the third time this month, according to the same report.

[July 27, 2016]

Police detain veteran journalist
Police in the seaside town of Bodrum today detain veteran journalist Nazlı Ilıcak, most recently a columnist for the now-defunct daily newspaper Özgür Düşünce, the Doğan News Agency reported. The journalist is under investigation under suspicion of affiliation with the Hizmet movement, which the government accuses of orchestrating a failed coup on July 15. Police confiscated books, notebooks, and a computer from the vacation home where Ilıcak was staying. She will be transferred to Istanbul today, the news agency reported.

Four journalists detained in southeastern Turkey
Police detained four journalists in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish Nusaybin district of Mardin, near the Iraq and Iran borders, the pro-Kurdish news agencies DİHA and JİNHA reported. Police detained DİHA reporters Selami Aslan and Mehmet Sıddık alongside JİNHA reporters Esra Aydın and Ceylan Eraslan while they were reporting from the local bazaar. According to DİHA, police first stopped the journalists, checked their identification cards, ran their national identification numbers through a database to determine whether they were wanted for any crimes, and let them go. But soon after, the same officers stopped the journalists and took them into custody. The reasons for the journalists’ detention were not immediately clear.

Police detain court reporter
Police in the western Turkish town of Manisa today detained Hanım Büşra Erdal, a court reporter formerly with the daily newspaper Zaman and most recently with the now-defunct daily newspaper Yeni Hayat, the daily newspaper Hürriyet reported. Police also suspect her of being a member of the Hizmet movement, according to press reports. Erdal was visiting her family in Manisa, and will be transferred to Istanbul today, the reports said.

State TV and radio reporters fired after coup attempt return to work
Twenty one journalists for state broadcaster TRT who lost their jobs following the July 15 failed coup attempt have been reinstated in their old jobs and have been cleared of suspicions that they had anything to do with the attempted coup, Mehmet Demir, one of reinstated TRT reporters and a representative of the HABER-SEN journalists’ syndicate, told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Demir said eight more TRT employees who are members of the HABER-SEN syndicate have yet to be reinstated in their old jobs, but that the syndicate was working with station management to reinstate the employees.

[July 26, 2016]

At least 42 journalists to be detained: State news agency
Police have warrants for the arrest of at least 42 journalists, the official Anatolia News Agency (AA) reported today. Police have already detained five of the journalists on the list today, according to an English-language website.

AA did not specify on what charges police sought the journalists. Many of the journalists on the reported list, which the Committee to Protect Journalists was not immediately able to verify, worked for media outlets which already taken over by pro-government trustees for their ties to the Hizmet movement, which the government has since accused of orchestrating a failed July 15, 2016, military coup. CPJ is researching the journalists’ individual cases.

The list AA reported is as follows:

According to the English-language, pro-Hizmet website Turkish Minute, police today detained Yakup Sağlam, İbrahim Balta, Seyid Kılıç, Bayram Kaya, and Cihan Acar, but were unable to find the other 37 wanted journalists.

Turkey’s Media Crackdown

Police detain at least four online news editors: reports
Istanbul police today detained Ahmet Memiş, Erkam Büyük, and Emre Koçali, all editors of the pro-Hizmet news website Haberdar, after the three turned themselves in upon hearing they were wanted by police, the daily newspaper Evrensel reported on its website today.

Said Sefa, the website’s editor-in-chief, on Friday wrote on Twitter that police had gone to his house, but that he was not there. The opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet, citing Sefa’s posts to Twitter, subsequently reported that police had on Friday detained İsa Siyi, another editor at the website, and that Sefa would turn himself in for interrogation. It is unclear whether police also detained Sefa on Friday. He has not posted anything to Twitter since, and Haberdar has not been updated since.

Journalist arrested on terrorism charges
A court in the southeastern Turkish province of Mardin on Saturday jailed Zehra Doğan, an editor for the pro-Kurdish, entirely female-staffed JINHA news agency, pending the conclusion of her trial on charges of “membership in a [terrorist] organization,” according to JINHA and her lawyer, Şiraz Baran, who spoke with the Committee to Protect Journalists today.

Police detained the journalist on Friday in Nusaybin. The town, which has been the site of fighting between Turkish security forces and predominantly ethnic Kurdish youth, has been under curfew since March, though today that curfew was partially lifted, according to press reports.

Witnesses said the journalist was seen with Bilal Güldem, a reporter for the pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA) arrested in April and released in June pending the conclusion of his trial on similar charges. Doğan denies the charges against her, and maintains she is being tried for her journalism.

Police arrest editor of pro-Kurdish newspaper
Police in Diyarbakır today arrested Zeynel Abidin Bulut, editor of the Pro-Kurdish daily Azadiya Welat, at a checkpoint, the pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA) reported.

Azadiya Welat‘s lawyer, Resul Tanur, told CPJ Bulut was wanted on old charges, and that an appeals court had upheld a sentence against the editor without his knowledge. Tanur said that the case against Bulut was old, that he did not know on what charges Bulut was imprisoned, or whether they were related to his journalism.

Columnist released on probation
Counter-terrorism police released columnist and lawyer Orhan Kemal Cengiz on probation, the news website Bianet reported today. Police detained the journalist on July 21 at Istanbul’s Atatürk airport as he and his wife attempted to travel from Turkey, he told reporters after his release. Cengiz is prevented from leaving Turkey as part of his probation.

Cengiz said in remarks reported by Bianet that though he wrote for Zaman newspaper and acted as Zaman‘s lawyer, these activities were strictly professional, and police interrogated him only about a few posts he had made to Twitter, not his columns or his work as a lawyer.

A court in March 2016 appointed pro-government trustees for Zaman, finding that the newspaper was linked to the Hizmet movement.

At least 30 news-related websites censored since coup attempt: report
Regulators and courts have censored at least 30 news websites or news-related websites since the July 15 failed attempt, the opposition daily newspaper Cumhuriyet reported Saturday.

Many of the censored websites have been sympathetic to the Hizmet movement, but the list also includes Turkish websites not affiliated with the Hizmet movement, such as the website of the socialist satirical weekly LeMan and international websites sites such as Archive.org and Wikileaks.

According to Cumhuriyet, the websites censored since July 15 are as follows:

[July 25, 2016]

Özgür Öğret is a Turkish freelance journalist and CPJ’s Turkey representative. He was lead researcher for the 2012 CPJ special report, “Turkey’s Press Freedom Crisis.”

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