Turkish crackdown targets Zaman newspaper
Warrants issued for executives, journalists at paper linked to suspected coup leader
ANKARA, TURKEY— Turkish authorities issued warrants Wednesday for the detention of 47 former executives or senior journalists at the Zaman newspaper, which was associated with the U.S.-based Muslim cleric who the government says is behind Turkey’s failed July 15 coup.
At least one journalist, former Zaman columnist Sahin Alpay, was detained at his home early Wednesday, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Zaman, which was linked to Fethullah Gulen’s religious movement, was raided by police and seized by the government in March as part of a clampdown on the group.
As he was being detained, Alpay said he had committed “no crimes” and did not know why he was being taken away.
“I don’t know why. I’ll find out now,” he said.
Earlier this week, Turkey issued arrest warrants against 42 other jour- nalists, of whom 16 have been detained for questioning.
Turkey has detained more than 13,000 in the military, judiciary and other institutions in purges since the uprising. Tens of thousands of other state employees with suspected links to Gulen have been suspended from their jobs in sectors including education, health care, city government and even Turkish Airlines.
Gulen, who lives in the U.S. and runs a global network of schools and foundations, has repeatedly denied any knowledge of the coup attempt.
The detention of journalists and wide-scale purges of officials have raised concerns about a possible witch hunt by the government in the wake of the coup attempt that killed about 290 people.
In a statement Wednesday, the Turkish military said as many as 35 warplanes, 37 helicopters, 74 tanks and three navy vessels were used by the plotters in their failed coup attempt. At least 8,651military personnel were involved, it said, adding that they constituted 1.5 per cent of the armed forces’ personnel.
The country’s energy minister, Berat Albayrak, meanwhile, lamented what he said was a lack of strong support from European nations and the U.S. for Turkey’s efforts to counter the “anti-democratic” process.
The U.S. has told Turkey to present evidence against Gulen and let the U.S. extradition process take course.
Turkey has branded his movement a terror organization, and Albayrak claimed the Gulen group was “more dangerous” than Daesh, also known as ISIS and ISIL, or the Kurdish rebels who have carried out deadly suicide bombings in the country in the past year.