Updated at 2:00 pm (GMT +2): Turkish police raided media outlets close to US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen on Sunday and detained 23 people nationwide, two days after President Tayyip Erdogan signaled a fresh campaign against Gulen's supporters
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| Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) and Fethullah Gulen were once close allies |
The raids on Zaman newspaper and Samanyolu television marked an escalation of Erdogan's battle with former ally Gulen, with whom he has been in open conflict since a graft investigation targeting Erdogan's inner circle emerged a year ago.
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Zaman's editor-in-chief waves to staff while being arrested by counter-terror police |
"The free press cannot be silenced," a crowd chanted at the offices of Zaman as its editor Ekrem Dumanli made a speech defiantly challenging police to detain him, while elsewhere in Istanbul the chairman of Samanyolu TV was being detained.
"This is a shameful sight for Turkey," Samanyolu TV group chairman Hidayet Karaca told reporters just before he himself was held.
"Sadly in 21st Century Turkey this is the treatment they dish out to a media group with tens of television and radio stations, internet media and magazines."
Media reports said arrest warrants had been issued for 32 people. State broadcaster TRT Haber said 23 people had been detained in raids across EU-candidate Turkey, including two former police chiefs. As well as Karaca, a television producer, a director and scriptwriters were held.
English-language Today's Zaman editor Bulent Kenes told Reuters police had shown them documentation which referred to a charge of 'forming a gang to try and seize state sovereignty'.
Government ministers declined to make specific comments on the raids, but Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said "anyone who does wrong pays the price", state media reported.
"Coup against democracy”
Commenting on the raids, main opposition CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu told reporters "this is a coup government. A coup is being carried out against democracy.”
Erdogan accuses Gulen of establishing a "parallel structure" within the state through his supporters in the judiciary, police and other state institutions, as well as wielding influence through the media.
The cleric denies the accusation of seeking to overthrow Erdogan's government.
Erdogan drew on Gulen's influence in police and judiciary in the first years of his government in taming an army that had toppled four governments since 1960, including Turkey's first Islamist-led cabinet. That relationship has dramatically soured.
Erdogan, who consolidated his power further in moving from the prime minister's office to the presidency in August, said on Friday he would pursue Gulen's supporters into their "lairs".
"We have gone into their lairs and we will go into them again. Whoever is beside them and behind them, we will bring down this network and bring it to account," Erdogan told a business forum in Ankara.
He has described them in the past as terrorists and traitors.
Alluding to an international conspiracy, Erdogan said the "parallel structure" was targeting Turkey's stability, independence and economy.
"I want my dear nation to know that we are not just faced with a simple network, but one which is a pawn of national and international evil forces," he said.
The corruption probe, which became public with police raids on December 17 last year, led to the resignation of three ministers and prompted Erdogan to purge the state apparatus, reassigning thousands of police and hundreds of judges and prosecutors.
Erdogan has also pushed through legislation increasing government control of the judiciary, most recently a law restructuring two top courts. Prosecutors have meanwhile dropped the corruption cases.
Sunday's police raids had been expected for a several days after a widely-followed Twitter account, which has previously given advance warning of police operations, said police were set to detain some 400 people, including around 150 journalists regarded as Gulen supporters.
Top Turkey cleric under fire over luxury Mercedes
Turkey's top cleric came under fire on Saturday over reports that a luxury Mercedes had been purchased at public expense to serve as his official car -- the latest government splurge to cause a public outcry.
Mehmet Gormez, the head of Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate, known as Diyanet in Turkish, will soon be cruising in a Mercedes s500, worth some 350,000 euros ($435,000), the Hurriyet newspaper reported Saturday.
Diyanet, whose budget is funded by taxpayers, bought another 14 Toyota cars for its senior officials, the newspaper said, noting that they previously rode in the more modest Renault Symbol.
The purchases have caused an online outcry in the mainly Muslim but officially secular country, which has been run by a government with Islamist roots for more than a decade.
Many argued that such extravagance was against Islamic principles.
"Let's call the Fatwa (religious ruling) hotline and ask: Isn't it haram -- forbidden by Islam -- to buy a luxury car for the head of Diyanet by using citizens' donations?" Hakan Sukur, former international football player and MP, wrote on Twitter.
"One never knows who might have money or who might have faith in God," opposition lawmaker Erdal Aksunger wrote, using a Turkish proverb. Another MP called on Gormez to resign.
Diyanet did not deny the reports, but said in a statement that the cars had been bought through state tenders and the cost was less than estimated by the press.
"All vehicles have been purchased with the approval of the finance ministry.... All expenses are documented in a transparent way," it added.
Gormez was among top Turkish figures who welcomed Pope Francis to Turkey late last month. The pope, who has made a point of eschewing luxury, opted to ride in a Renault Symbol during his visit.
The debate comes amid ongoing controversy over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's new presidential palace, a 1,150-room complex in Ankara that cost taxpayers more than $600 million.
Reuters, AFP, Al-Akhbar)
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