Friday, November 27, 2015

The Free Press That Doesn't Exist In Turkey

Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insists ad nauseum that a Free Press exists in Turkey yet is actions prove otherwise.  Journalists are constantly under threat from the government from censorship to arrests.      Following the second election in a year Erdogan's AKP party regained its majority in parliament which has allowed the government to continue cracking down on Turkish media outlets.

Two editors from the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper face lengthy jail sentences for alleging that Ankara’s intelligence agency was supplying weapons


A court in Istanbul has charged two journalists from the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper with spying after they alleged Turkey’s secret services had sent arms to Islamist rebels in Syria.
Can Dundar, the editor-in-chief, and Erdem Gul, the paper’s Ankara bureau chief, are accused of spying and “divulging state secrets”, Turkish media reported. Both men were placed in pre-trial detention.
According to Cumhuriyet, Turkish security forces in January 2014 intercepted a convoy of trucks near the Syrian border and discovered boxes of what the daily described as weapons and ammunition to be sent to rebels fighting against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
It linked the seized trucks to the Turkish national intelligence organisation (MIT).

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