In the past couple of years, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey has routinely been criticized for putting pressure on the media. Both at home and abroad, journalists have complained that the government, especially the inner circle of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, tries to manipulate newspapers and news channels for their own political benefit. A May 2013 report by the Center for American Progress, for example, noted that there is “direct pressure on owners of news outlets from government officials and more subtle forms of self-censorship from editors and journalists afraid of dismissal.”

The response of the government to these allegations has often been silence or denial. The latter has come particularly from Yalcin Akdogan, an AKP deputy and close adviser to Erdogan, in his articles and tweets. For example, he wrote in 2013 that the government is certainly not engaged in any “pressure, control or intervention” with regard to the media.

However, things have changed dramatically in the past few weeks. First, undeniable evidence of media manipulation was publicly exposed. As a response, the prime minister shifted his stance, and instead of saying that there is no intervention in the media, he acknowledged some intervention, but then argued that there is simply no problem with the practice.

Here is the more detailed story. What exposed the hidden relations with the government and the media are a series of wiretapped phone conversations that were posted online earlier this month, and listened to by millions of curious Turks. The central figure was Fatih Sarac, a conservative businessman with very close links to Erdogan and the ruling party. In 2012, however, he suddenly became the executive director of Haberturk, a top mainstream newspaper, and Haberturk TV, the news channel of the same company. In various phone calls, Sarac is heard reprimanding his subordinates, such as Fatih Altayli, the editor-in-chief of Haberturk, for broadcasting or publishing news that displeased the government.