Erdogan intensifies assault on independent media
US State Department calls on Turkey to respect "democratic values"; Israel considers Erdogan a "lost cause," sees Putin winning "on all counts."
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s campaign against media freedoms stands out, even in a region where liberty of expression and journalists are often under siege.
Mustafa Akyol writes that the Turkish government’s seizure of Zaman newspaper March 4 “may have shocked outsiders, but in Turkey, hardly anyone was surprised. It was clear that Zaman and its entire media group, including Cihan News Agency, would be seized, as Ipek Media Group, which published the dailies Bugun and Millet, was seized in October and turned pro-Erdogan overnight. All these news outlets were affiliated with the movement of Fethullah Gulen, and the Turkish public is repeatedly told that every asset of his religious community will be confiscated by the state.”
