On Nov. 24, an unexpected purge took place in the pro-government segment of Turkish media. Three top executives of two prominent pro-government national dailies, Star and Aksam, suddenly lost their jobs. They were fired by Ethem Sancak, a prominent businessman who owns both papers. But many believe Sancak would not have made such a major decision without the approval of the ultimate boss, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. That is why, since then Turkish journalists have been discussing, and gossiping about, the political significance of this in-house purge.

The three journalists in question are Mustafa Karaalioglu (media group manager) and Yusuf Ziya Comert (editor-in-chief) of Star, and Mehmet Ocaktan, the editor-in-chief of Aksam. All three are veterans of Turkey’s Islamist/conservative political movement and have a longtime alliance with Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP). (Ocaktan even served as an AKP deputy in the Turkish parliament in 2007-11.) They have been frequent guests in Erdogan’s presidential jet, to which only supportive journalists are invited. That is why their dismissal came as interesting news in a country where the dismissal of non-pro-Erdogan journalists has been too common to create any surprise.

On Nov. 28, Karaalioglu appeared on a talk show on CNNTurk and said the dismissals were nothing but a personal decision by the boss, Ethem Sancak, who bought both papers about a year ago. Although he said he was “heartbroken,” Karaalioglu said, “Bosses have the right to employ or dismiss us; we have to respect that.” In return, Sancak also spoke respectfully, saying, “It is just that our styles have not matched.” By looking at these statements, one can conclude that there is not anything unusual, as the changing of directors is only normal in the media as elsewhere.

Yet, many observers in Turkey believe that there is more to this than what meets the eye. First, one thing that needs to be noted is the dismissal of a Star columnist, Cemil Ertem, by Karaalioglu just a day before Karaalioglu’s own dismissal. Ertem is an economy writer, and has made a name for himself as a staunch enemy of “neoliberalism” and the “interest rate lobby” that supposedly plots against Turkey. He is known to share a similar vision, and friendship, with Yigit Bulut, who is also a Star columnist, and, more important, a top adviser to Erdogan since 2013. Bulut is quite unsympathetic to Ali Babacan, the minister of the economy since the AKP came to power in 2002, and word has it that he wants to replace the “neoliberal” Babacan to impose his more “independent” — and conspiracy-obsessed — economic vision.