Fears of government seizure spill over to Turkey's universities
Private universities in Turkey appear to be next in line in government crosshairs after a number of companies, newspapers and TV channels were taken over by pro-government trustees.
A week before Turkey’s Nov. 1 elections, Koza Ipek Holding, whose 22 companies include a media group, were handed over to trustees under a judicial ruling requested by the chief prosecutor’s office in Ankara. Pro-government figures were appointed to run the companies, among them two TV channels and two newspapers. An arrest warrant was issued for holding owner Hamdi Akin Ipek, currently abroad, on charges of being a leader of a terrorist organization linked to US-based Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen.
After the trustees took over, the media group, which was a tough government critic, underwent a pro-government remake overnight. The editorial policies of the Bugun and Millet newspapers turned upside down, while the Bugun and Kanalturk TV channels began broadcasting documentaries. The trustees fired at least 58 employees.
The seizure and silencing of the media outlets, which followed a similar move against a major bank earlier this year, sparked harsh criticism both at home and abroad. Some in the Turkish media, meanwhile, were keen to recall the close bonds between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Gulen community, including Koza Ipek Holding, before the two allies fell out amid a corruption scandal in December 2013.
The day the trustees arrived to take over media offices in Istanbul and Ankara, riot police used pepper gas and water cannons to disperse crowds of protesters who had gathered outside, brandishing Turkish flags and chanting slogans.
