Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Monday, December 22, 2014
Washington Post: "The news media crackdown in Turkey threatens democracy"
AUTOCRATS OFTEN feel compelled to invent pretexts, no matter how unconvincing, for crushing their opponents. In the latest round of attacks on the news media in Turkey, warrants were issued for the arrest of journalists in which it was stated they are suspected of nefarious deeds, such as plotting “to seize state power” or forming an armed organization to support terrorists. These trumped-up claims are intended to divert attention from a crackdown by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his critics and rivals. At stake is Turkey’s democracy.
On Dec. 14, Turkish police arrested the editor of the daily Zaman newspaper, the head of the Samanyolu broadcasting group and others. Crowds thronged outside the newspaper headquarters in Istanbul when police arrived, and newspaper workers hoisted banners declaring that a “free press cannot be silenced.” All told, about two dozen people were detained, including journalists, producers, scriptwriters and a police chief in eastern Turkey. Eight journalists were released Friday, but others remain in custody.
They have all been swept up into the vortex of Mr. Erdogan’s paranoia about a Sunni cleric, Fethullah Gulen. Once an ally of Mr. Erdogan, he is now branded by the president as a foe bent on toppling him from power. The journalists’ arrests are just the most recent attempt by Mr. Erdogan to wipe out the influence that Mr. Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania, still commands in Turkey.Mr. Erdogan appears to be hurtling toward the kind of autocracy evident today in Russia.
Mr. Erdogan declared two days before the arrests that he had uncovered evidence of a planned coup last year inspired by Mr. Gulen and his supporters. Mr. Erdogan talked darkly about a “parallel network that is commiting [sic] treason” and he has been threatening to root out the Gulen forces for much of this year. “We have gone into their lairs, and we will go into them again,” the Turkish president declared. In a related effort, an arrest warrant for Mr. Gulen was issued last week in Turkey.
The crisis was intensified by a corruption scandal that broke a year ago — again, Mr. Erdogan claims, inspired by his foes — that implicated many of those close to Mr. Erdogan, then prime minister. In the summer, he was elected president in the nation’s first popular vote for the office. Mr. Erdogan wants more power for the presidency, yet his bellicose behavior in the past year suggests he is taking Turkey in the wrong direction.
The rivalry with Mr. Gulen aside, Mr. Erdogan ignores a central premise of democracy: that it is strengthened, not weakened, by competition. The noisy news media are not carrying out some dark conspiracy and not participating in a palace coup, but they rather are a critical part of a functioning, healthy political system. Suffocate the news media, and Mr. Erdogan risks destroying all that Turkey should aspire to. Mr. Erdogan ought to reverse direction before driving off the cliff.
Source - Washington Post Editorial Board: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-news-media-crackdown-in-turkey-threatens-democracy/2014/12/21/55a0e4ee-84a3-11e4-a702-fa31ff4ae98e_story.html?postshare=5111419260376198
On Dec. 14, Turkish police arrested the editor of the daily Zaman newspaper, the head of the Samanyolu broadcasting group and others. Crowds thronged outside the newspaper headquarters in Istanbul when police arrived, and newspaper workers hoisted banners declaring that a “free press cannot be silenced.” All told, about two dozen people were detained, including journalists, producers, scriptwriters and a police chief in eastern Turkey. Eight journalists were released Friday, but others remain in custody.
They have all been swept up into the vortex of Mr. Erdogan’s paranoia about a Sunni cleric, Fethullah Gulen. Once an ally of Mr. Erdogan, he is now branded by the president as a foe bent on toppling him from power. The journalists’ arrests are just the most recent attempt by Mr. Erdogan to wipe out the influence that Mr. Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania, still commands in Turkey.Mr. Erdogan appears to be hurtling toward the kind of autocracy evident today in Russia.
Mr. Erdogan declared two days before the arrests that he had uncovered evidence of a planned coup last year inspired by Mr. Gulen and his supporters. Mr. Erdogan talked darkly about a “parallel network that is commiting [sic] treason” and he has been threatening to root out the Gulen forces for much of this year. “We have gone into their lairs, and we will go into them again,” the Turkish president declared. In a related effort, an arrest warrant for Mr. Gulen was issued last week in Turkey.
The crisis was intensified by a corruption scandal that broke a year ago — again, Mr. Erdogan claims, inspired by his foes — that implicated many of those close to Mr. Erdogan, then prime minister. In the summer, he was elected president in the nation’s first popular vote for the office. Mr. Erdogan wants more power for the presidency, yet his bellicose behavior in the past year suggests he is taking Turkey in the wrong direction.
The rivalry with Mr. Gulen aside, Mr. Erdogan ignores a central premise of democracy: that it is strengthened, not weakened, by competition. The noisy news media are not carrying out some dark conspiracy and not participating in a palace coup, but they rather are a critical part of a functioning, healthy political system. Suffocate the news media, and Mr. Erdogan risks destroying all that Turkey should aspire to. Mr. Erdogan ought to reverse direction before driving off the cliff.
Source - Washington Post Editorial Board: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-news-media-crackdown-in-turkey-threatens-democracy/2014/12/21/55a0e4ee-84a3-11e4-a702-fa31ff4ae98e_story.html?postshare=5111419260376198
How Turkey Sabotaged Its Future by Mustafa Akyol
by Mustafa Akyol, ISTANBUL — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey keeps making global headlines. First it was for claiming that Muslims discovered the New World. Then it was for asserting that you “cannot put women and men on an equal footing.” Last week, it was for supporting the arrest, by Turkish police, of a number of journalists. But in the long run, it is his reforms of the Turkish education system that will likely be the most influential — and detrimental — to the global competitiveness of the country’s next generation.
Earlier this month, Mr. Erdogan backed a proposal by Turkey’s National Education Council to make Ottoman Turkish — an older version of the language, written in Arabic letters — mandatory in religious high schools, and available as an elective in secular high schools. Flouting earlier rulings by the European Court of Human Rights, the council also proposed that religious education be compulsory from age six. The president’s response to sharp criticism of these initiatives from Turkish politicians and civil groups was characteristic: The changes would take place “whether they like it or not,” Mr. Erdogan said.
In other words, as is often the case in Turkey, a war over ideology dominated the agenda, while the practical needs of Turkey’s future generations were overlooked. The National Education Council did not put any emphasis on foreign language instruction, for example, despite the fact that Turks generally fare poorly when it comes to speaking any language other than their own — particularly languages like English, Chinese or Arabic that could help Turkish businesses grow, both in the region and globally. Nor was there any emphasis on critical thinking or democratic values — the very qualities that could help transform Turkey’s insular, rigid and intolerant political culture.
Earlier this month, Mr. Erdogan backed a proposal by Turkey’s National Education Council to make Ottoman Turkish — an older version of the language, written in Arabic letters — mandatory in religious high schools, and available as an elective in secular high schools. Flouting earlier rulings by the European Court of Human Rights, the council also proposed that religious education be compulsory from age six. The president’s response to sharp criticism of these initiatives from Turkish politicians and civil groups was characteristic: The changes would take place “whether they like it or not,” Mr. Erdogan said.
In other words, as is often the case in Turkey, a war over ideology dominated the agenda, while the practical needs of Turkey’s future generations were overlooked. The National Education Council did not put any emphasis on foreign language instruction, for example, despite the fact that Turks generally fare poorly when it comes to speaking any language other than their own — particularly languages like English, Chinese or Arabic that could help Turkish businesses grow, both in the region and globally. Nor was there any emphasis on critical thinking or democratic values — the very qualities that could help transform Turkey’s insular, rigid and intolerant political culture.
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Brave New Turkey by Andrew Finkel
by Andrew Finkel, ISTANBUL — Freedom House, the democracy watchdog, earlier this year downgraded the Turkish press from being “partly free” to “not free.” Now it may have to create a new category: “not free at all.”
On Sunday, Dec. 14, Turkish police raided the headquarters of Zaman, the country’s most widely circulated daily, and a major television station, taking into custody at least 24 people, including the paper’s editor-in-chief and the station’s director. (The editor has since been released.) They were detained on suspicions of “establishing a terrorist group.” But the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said the raids smacked “of political vengeance.”
A decade ago Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then Turkey’s prime minister, was the most likely candidate to lead the Islamic world. He had managed to keep Turkey out of the 2003 Iraq War, was grooming it for membership in the European Union, and was getting on with economic reform. Ordinary Turks were feeling prosperous, proud and hopeful. So why is the Turkish government now going off the rails when it has been perfectly popular doing the right things?
Today Mr. Erdogan is the president, and his style is in-your-face confrontational. He is revered by enough people to get his party re-elected, but many others loathe him (remember the protests in Gezi Park?), and some of his eccentricities have made him a favorite of headline writers. Like a potentate of some Sacha Baron Cohen parody, he has had a presidential palace with over a thousand rooms built for himself. No one knows how much it cost: The government agency responsible for the construction says the sum is a state secret because its disclosure would damage the economy.
The joke only goes so far. No one was chuckling during the police raids on Zaman and Samanyolu television that Sunday. Like Zaman, Samanyolu is affiliated with the self-exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose followers have founded a network of schools, businesses and media companies. The case revolves around the allegation that the Gulen movement may have tried to discredit a small, rival religious group called Tahsiyeciler (“Annotators”), by portraying it as having links to Islamic radicals — including in a political thriller series broadcast by Samanyolu. (The show’s producer, director and scriptwriter were also taken into custody.)
On Sunday, Dec. 14, Turkish police raided the headquarters of Zaman, the country’s most widely circulated daily, and a major television station, taking into custody at least 24 people, including the paper’s editor-in-chief and the station’s director. (The editor has since been released.) They were detained on suspicions of “establishing a terrorist group.” But the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said the raids smacked “of political vengeance.”
A decade ago Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then Turkey’s prime minister, was the most likely candidate to lead the Islamic world. He had managed to keep Turkey out of the 2003 Iraq War, was grooming it for membership in the European Union, and was getting on with economic reform. Ordinary Turks were feeling prosperous, proud and hopeful. So why is the Turkish government now going off the rails when it has been perfectly popular doing the right things?
Today Mr. Erdogan is the president, and his style is in-your-face confrontational. He is revered by enough people to get his party re-elected, but many others loathe him (remember the protests in Gezi Park?), and some of his eccentricities have made him a favorite of headline writers. Like a potentate of some Sacha Baron Cohen parody, he has had a presidential palace with over a thousand rooms built for himself. No one knows how much it cost: The government agency responsible for the construction says the sum is a state secret because its disclosure would damage the economy.
The joke only goes so far. No one was chuckling during the police raids on Zaman and Samanyolu television that Sunday. Like Zaman, Samanyolu is affiliated with the self-exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose followers have founded a network of schools, businesses and media companies. The case revolves around the allegation that the Gulen movement may have tried to discredit a small, rival religious group called Tahsiyeciler (“Annotators”), by portraying it as having links to Islamic radicals — including in a political thriller series broadcast by Samanyolu. (The show’s producer, director and scriptwriter were also taken into custody.)
Arrest warrant insufficient to extradite #FethullahGulen as int’l law calls for solid evidence
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| Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen (Photo: Cihan) |
A court has issued an arrest warrant for Fethullah Gulen and requested that the scholar be extradited from the United States, which is seen as a step towards an Interpol Red Notice and ultimately extradition from the US, but US law requires that the crime be recognized in both country's jurisdictions and that the offense not be political in nature.
The First İstanbul Penal Court of Peace decided there was "sufficient tangible evidence" and agreed to issue the warrant for Gülen, a Turkish Islamic preacher who advocates a moderate Islam rooted in modern life. The move was a prelude to a formal request for Gülen's extradition from the United States, where he is living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania.
The First İstanbul Penal Court of Peace decided there was "sufficient tangible evidence" and agreed to issue the warrant for Gülen, a Turkish Islamic preacher who advocates a moderate Islam rooted in modern life. The move was a prelude to a formal request for Gülen's extradition from the United States, where he is living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania.
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Tahşiye leader Doğan extends love to Osama bin Ladin
Turkish police carried out a large-scale operation against the media outlets detaining dozens of journalists, scriptwriters and police officials following the leader of Tahşiye group filed a complaint that the related media plotted against him during 2010 police operations.
Attending to ‘Baştan Sona’ program at CNN Türk hosted by Akif Beki, who was former spokesman of Erdoğan, Tahşiye leader Doğan denied his group's links to al-Qaeda.
Turkey orders extradition of president’s rival #FethullahGulen over terrorism claims
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Fethullah Gulen is head of the ‘moderate Islamic movement’ Hizmet |
Mr Gulen, who was once an ally of current president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and has now lived in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999, strongly denies the claims that his group Hizmet is involved with terrorist-related activity.
While the US and Turkey have an extradition agreement, it is said to be unlikely for the former to act upon it while the request is said to put more pressure on strained relations between Washington DC and Ankara.
Read full story at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/turkey-orders-extradition-of-presidents-rival-fethullah-gulen-over-terrorism-claims-9937579.html
Erdoğan’s fear by Ihsan Yilmaz
by Ihsan Yilmaz - I am extremely bored of the fact that we have to keep writing about Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Nevertheless, since he has unfortunately created a party state without effective checks and balances, in this one-man regime, he is the single-most influential decision maker. Thus, whatever he does negatively influences and harms the whole nation. We are not in a position to ignore this fact or talk about some other issues just because we are bored and fed up with Erdoğan.
In the past, we, including myself, were not responsive enough to prevent Turkey from gradually descending into a one-man regime and even unintentionally helped him create such a system since we did not criticize him timely, properly, harshly and frequently enough. Maybe this is a spiritual punishment that we have to suffer. I made an apology at the beginning of the year for all these mistakes of mine, including my failure to object to the arrests of journalists.
Read full article at http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist/ihsan-yilmaz/erdogans-fear_367486.html
In the past, we, including myself, were not responsive enough to prevent Turkey from gradually descending into a one-man regime and even unintentionally helped him create such a system since we did not criticize him timely, properly, harshly and frequently enough. Maybe this is a spiritual punishment that we have to suffer. I made an apology at the beginning of the year for all these mistakes of mine, including my failure to object to the arrests of journalists.
Read full article at http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist/ihsan-yilmaz/erdogans-fear_367486.html
Turkey media arrests pure 'political vengeance'
By Ruth Pollard - The timing of the arrests could not have been more pointed,
punishing segments of Turkey's media for exposing a bruising government
corruption scandal and attempting to silence any further revelations.
Just days before the first anniversary of the December 17 bribery and fraud investigation that rocked the Erdogan government, at least 23 journalists, scriptwriters, directors and police officers were publicly rounded up and detained, accused of being members of a terrorist organisation conspiring against Turkey.
It was, says the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an act of pure "political vengeance". Others described it as "another Turkish witch-hunt" in which
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan exacted revenge on his political
opponents.
Turkish author and columnist Mustafa Akol summed up the mood in the country following the arrests, tweeting on Thursday: "Honestly, Turkey is basically a madhouse where similarly paranoid and hateful groups demonise and imprison each other in turns."
Read full story at http://www.smh.com.au/world/turkey-media-arrests-pure-political-vengeance-20141220-128ysd.html
Just days before the first anniversary of the December 17 bribery and fraud investigation that rocked the Erdogan government, at least 23 journalists, scriptwriters, directors and police officers were publicly rounded up and detained, accused of being members of a terrorist organisation conspiring against Turkey.
Turkish author and columnist Mustafa Akol summed up the mood in the country following the arrests, tweeting on Thursday: "Honestly, Turkey is basically a madhouse where similarly paranoid and hateful groups demonise and imprison each other in turns."
Read full story at http://www.smh.com.au/world/turkey-media-arrests-pure-political-vengeance-20141220-128ysd.html
NYT: #Turkey’s Descent Into Paranoia #FreeMediaCannotBeSilenced
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, says mass arrests on Dec. 14 of journalists, screenwriters and television producers were necessary to eliminate agents of a “parallel state” bent on seizing power. But Mr. Erdogan’s efforts to stifle criticism and dissent show an authoritarian leader living in a parallel universe, one where being a democracy, a NATO ally and a candidate for membership in the European Union are somehow compatible with upending the rule of law and stifling freedom of expression.
The arrests closely follow wild accusations that the acclaimed Turkish novelists Orhan Pamuk and Elif Shafak are puppets of a mysterious “international literature lobby” dedicated to discrediting Mr. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, or A.K.P. The authors have been subjected to a social-media smear campaign labeling them as “projects” used by the West to slander Mr. Erdogan and his party.
Last February, Mr. Erdogan’s government pushed through new laws severely restricting Internet freedom and curbing the independence of Turkey’s judiciary in response to a corruption scandal that rocked the government last December. The timing of the mass arrests coincides with the one-year anniversary of the scandal, and appears designed to prevent last year’s revelations from being revisited in public. Most of the arrested journalists work for the Samanyolu Broadcasting Group and the newspaper Zaman, both affiliated with Fethullah Gulen, a political rival of Mr. Erdogan.
The arrests closely follow wild accusations that the acclaimed Turkish novelists Orhan Pamuk and Elif Shafak are puppets of a mysterious “international literature lobby” dedicated to discrediting Mr. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, or A.K.P. The authors have been subjected to a social-media smear campaign labeling them as “projects” used by the West to slander Mr. Erdogan and his party.
Last February, Mr. Erdogan’s government pushed through new laws severely restricting Internet freedom and curbing the independence of Turkey’s judiciary in response to a corruption scandal that rocked the government last December. The timing of the mass arrests coincides with the one-year anniversary of the scandal, and appears designed to prevent last year’s revelations from being revisited in public. Most of the arrested journalists work for the Samanyolu Broadcasting Group and the newspaper Zaman, both affiliated with Fethullah Gulen, a political rival of Mr. Erdogan.
’Arrest warrant for #FethullahGulen to damage #Turkey’s reputation in the world’
Alliance for Shared Values, a non-profit group that serves as a voice for dialogue organizations affiliated with the Hizmet in the US has released a press statement about an arrest warrant issued by a Turkish court for Fethullah Gülen, saying it will damage Turkey’s reputation in the world.
The statement said with its latest action, the Turkish government has abandoned all sensibilities and crossed important ethical and moral boundaries.
“While not unexpected, it is deeply disappointing to see the government openly abuse its power in order to ensure that it maintains absolute control over its citizens,” the statement said.
“Instead of recognizing Mr. Gülen for his decades of selfless service in peacefully promoting democracy, education and dialogue, [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan government is using false charges to oppress and harass its own people,” it added.
#Tahşiye leader Doğan says he ’loves Osama bin Ladin’
Leader of Turkey's Tahşiye group Mehmet Doğan, who is at the heart of the latest crackdown on media, has told CNNTurk that he "loves Osama bin Laden."
Turkish authorities carried out a large-scale operation in the weekend, detaining dozens of journalists, scripwriters and police officials after Doğan filed a complaint that the group plotted against him. A Turkish court issued an arrest warrant for Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen on Friday on charges of publicly criticizing the leader of the al-Qaeda group.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan defended Doğan and his group, accusing detained journalists and Gülen for orchestrating a plot against him. Doğan was jailed for 17 months and he was later released pending trial.
Speaking to Akif Beki, former spokesman of Erdoğan, Doğan denied any links to al-Qaeda, but said he loves bin Laden because he is a Muslim. When asked if he views bin Laden as a terrorist or not, Doğan said he doesn't know if "his jihad is right or wrong" because he is living a reclusive life.
In another video extensively broadcast on TVs, Doğan is heard praising bin Laden and al-Qaeda. In one case, Yiğit Bulut, who is now Erdoğan's chief aide, says "we need to cleanse Islam from this al-Qaide affiliates."
Source: http://www.todayszaman.com/national_tahsiye-leader-dogan-says-he-loves-osama-bin-ladin_367516.html
Friday, December 19, 2014
Thursday, December 18, 2014
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