October 29, 2015, Istanbul, Turkey. The Turkish police raided and seized Ipek Media Group’s main building on Wednesday morning on alleged charges of terrorism, suppression of the current regime and in an alleged financial investigation. The raids come after 22 trustees were appointed of by a judge on Monday in the Mecidiyeköy district, among the managers from pro-government organizations drawing strong criticism from political parties and the firm’s supporters.
Protests, consisting of staff members and journalists, chanting slogans of “Free Media cannot be silenced”, were arrested for showing their support to the firm, while live TV broadcasts of Kanaltürk and Bugün TV were reportedly cancelled. Police used tear gas and water cannons and some journalists reportedly detained.
Politicians from various opposition parties also protested the government takeover during a live coverage, including Oktay Vural, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP); Mustafa Destici, Grand Union Party (BBP) and Selahattin Demirtaş, Co-chair of Co-chair of People’s Democratic Party (HDP).
Following the takeover by the trustees on Monday, Cem Küçük, columnist at Star Gazette publicly threatened FOX TV, an independent Turkish channel for broadcasting critical news against the current government.
According to Amnesty International, the raids are an “attack on journalists and freedom of expression” and “efforts to silence harassing and intimidating critics” in Turkey. Koza Ipek group owns news outlets ranging from television, print and online media, including Millet, Bugün and Kanaltürk.
Representatives from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) called the raids “unacceptable” and “ a clear obstruction of media freedom” and sent observers to investigate the incident, with Ignacio Sanchez Amor, Special Representative on OSCE Border Issues; Andreas Baker, Director of Elections and Andreas Gross, a member of the Socialist Group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
The complete news report can be found here.
