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