2 Turkish journalists, detained for posting critical tweets

Justice in Turkey after December 14 Crackdown on Turkish Media

Turkey orders extradition of president’s rival #FethullahGulen over terrorism claims

Fethullah Gulen is head of the ‘moderate Islamic movement’ Hizmet

A Turkish court has issued an arrest warrant for dissident and self-imposed exile Fethullah Gülen as he is accused of running an “armed terrorist group” to allegedly overthrow the government.

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

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