A Turkish newspaper raid by police over the weekend ended in 23 arrests, according to reports from regional media. The raid, which hit a newspaper and a television station which are both rumored to have ties with with U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, ended with the detention of the two dozen media workers who are individually accused of helping the newspaper to form an illegal organization and get control over the state, according to BBC News .
Gulen is at the head of a spiritual movement called the Hizmet, known to be a rival against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The raid on the newspaper and the Turkish television station came just a few days after Erdogan said he was going to make extra efforts to squelch supporters of Gulen.
Media workers arrested in the newspaper and telelvsion raid included an array of media workers ranging from reporters to scriptwriters and producers. The eastern Turkey raid was against one of the country’s largest outlets, the Zaman newspaper, and was in the early hours of Sunday. Live tweets of the raid by newspaper staff, including the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Ekrem Dumanli, detailed what was happening even as protesters outside tried to turn back the raid party. (Turkish only follows):
Gecenin bu saatinde destek için gazetemize gelen Zaman sevdal?lar?yla helalle?tim, vedala?t?m… Bekliyorum… pic.twitter.com/kV8SpAV36O
— Ekrem Dumanl? (@Dumanlie) December 13, 2014
Dumani said in one tweet that police had been forced back “because of democratic reaction of my friends. I am at my place and wait.” He was in police custody by Sunday afternoon even as protesters outside chanted slogans in support of the free press during the police raid.
Local publication The Hurriet Daily News also reported on the Turkish newspaper raid, but their numbers of those reported arrested was closer to 31 and included the head of broadcasting at Samanyolu Media Group, Hidayet Karaca. Their numbers also included several former media workers who were swept up in the raid at 13 different locations throughout the country.
A number of Turkish media outlets were broadcasting live from the newspaper’s office when Dumani was taken into custody.
Other Turkish staff were arrested in the raid on the Samanyolu Media Group. In an odd twist, the former head of the Istanbul Police Department’s anti-terror branch and the former head of the Hakkari Police Department were also arrested as well as three police officers in different provinces.
A statement from the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office published by Hurriet gave out a list of individuals detained in the raid.
“The detentions have been ordered [for the people on the list] in order to take their testimonies on charges of founding and directing an armed terror organization, being a member of this organization, and engaging in forgery and slander,” the statement read of the Turkish newspaper raid.
[Image via RT.com]
