Warrants issued for Turkish opposition media

Newspaper owner and staff accused of links to Gulen

ANKARA // Turkey yesterday issued arrest warrants for the owner and three employees of an opposition daily newspaper as the state crackdown on opposition media widened. The owner of Sozcu, Burak Akbay, and three others are accused of links to the movement led by Fethullah Gulen, the Islamic preacher blamed for a coup attempt last year, the state news agency Anadolu reported.

The fiercely anti-government and ultra-secularist daily, whose name means “spokesman”, is one of the country’s bestselling papers. Its slogan is: “If #Sozcu is silent, Turkey will be silent.”

Istanbul prosecutors issued the warrants for the four, who include Mediha Olgun, the executive in charge of the Sozcu website, correspondent Gokmen Ulu, and Yonca Kaleli, a finance executive, CNN Turk said.

Anadolu said Olgun had been detained while CNN Turk said Akbay was in London.

But Sozcu’s lawyer Ismail Yilmaz denied arrest warrants had been issued, saying warrants had been issued to seize and search their belongings. Mr Yilmaz confirmed that Olgun was in custody but said that could be in connection with another investigation.

Despite the Yilmaz denial, Istanbul prosecutor Irfan Fidan confirmed the operation into Sozcu’s executives, saying “there are warrants, there are detentions”. He did not give details, saying only the “boss and some workers” were being investigated. Mr Akbay later said he was “being targeted because I produce right and honest journalism” in a statement on the daily’s website.

The four are accused of “committing crimes on behalf of an armed terror organisation”, referring to the Gulen movement.

Turkey refers to the movement as the “Fethullah Terrorist Organisation” (Feto), but Mr Gulen vehemently denies ordering the coup and the movement denies any terror charges. CNN Turk said the suspects were wanted in connection with an online article published on the same day as the attempted coup on July 15.

The accusations levelled at them include “facilitating a real attack on the president” and involvement in an “armed rebellion against the government”.

The article in question revealed details of where president Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on holiday in the upmarket Aegean resort of Marmaris, and had images of his hotel.

The daily issued a defiant statement on its website: “Let no one have any doubt, Sozcu will not be silent. It will continue to be the voice of this country’s conscience.”

Kati Piri, the European parliament’s rapporteur for Turkey, criticised the operation on Twitter: “In Turkey, critical journalism is equaled with terrorism. Attack on Sozcu newspaper another sad example.”

A state crackdown after the July coup attempt has created friction with the European Union, which Turkey has been seeking to join.