Turkey Govt Seizes Control of Anti-Erdogan Daily '' Zaman''
On Friday March 04,2016, a court ruled that Zaman, previously linked to an opponent of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, should now be run by administrators.
Riot police enter the headquarters of Turkey’s largest-circulation newspaper Zaman in Istanbul, Friday, March 4, 2016. The police raid came hours after a court placed it under the management of trustees on Friday. The move against the paper, which is linked to an opposition cleric, heightened concerns over deteriorating press freedoms in the country
Police raided Zaman's Istanbul offices late on Friday hours after a court ruling placed it under state control, but managers were still able to get Saturday's edition to print.
No reason was given by the court for the decision.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the takeover was "legal, not political".
"It is out of the question for either me or any of my colleagues to interfere in this process," he said in a television interview.
Water cannon and tear gas were used against some 500 Zaman supporters gathered in front of its headquarters on Saturday.
Zaman journalists who arrived to work on Saturday said their access to internal servers had been denied. Its editor-in-chief Abdulhamit Bilici and a leading columnist were also fired.
Its last edition under old ownership on Saturday March 05,2016 said Turkey's press had seen one of its "darkest days"
A man holds a Saturday copy of the Zaman newspaper with its headline reading 'the constitution suspended' as people gathered in support outside its headquarters
The court-ordered takeover of Zaman
sparked international outrage and was described as one of the ‘darkest
days’ in the history of the country’s Press – but EU chiefs largely
remained silent.
Some former Zaman staff produced a new newspaper named Yarina Bakis, or Look to Tomorrow, on Sunday March 06,2016
Its
front page showed an image of tear gas being fired outside Zaman's
headquarters on Saturday, with the headline: "Water cannon, tear gas and
rubber bullets are not enough: Throw him out!"
The newspaper said "Throw him out" was uttered by a policeman who ordered a journalist at the protest to be removed.
It is unclear how the new newspaper was published at short notice, and where it was printed.
The Twitter feed that used to belong to Zaman now redirects automatically to that of Yarina Bakis.
Zaman's website is now inaccessible, but has a holding message promising there will soon be "unbiased coverage for our readers".
Turkey ranks 149th among the 180 countries in the Reporters Without Border's World Press Freedom Index 2015
On Friday March 04,2016, a court ruled that Zaman, previously linked to an opponent of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, should now be run by administrators.
Riot police enter the headquarters of Turkey’s largest-circulation newspaper Zaman in Istanbul, Friday, March 4, 2016. The police raid came hours after a court placed it under the management of trustees on Friday. The move against the paper, which is linked to an opposition cleric, heightened concerns over deteriorating press freedoms in the country
Police raided Zaman's Istanbul offices late on Friday hours after a court ruling placed it under state control, but managers were still able to get Saturday's edition to print.
No reason was given by the court for the decision.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the takeover was "legal, not political".
"It is out of the question for either me or any of my colleagues to interfere in this process," he said in a television interview.
Water cannon and tear gas were used against some 500 Zaman supporters gathered in front of its headquarters on Saturday.
Zaman journalists who arrived to work on Saturday said their access to internal servers had been denied. Its editor-in-chief Abdulhamit Bilici and a leading columnist were also fired.
Its last edition under old ownership on Saturday March 05,2016 said Turkey's press had seen one of its "darkest days"
A man holds a Saturday copy of the Zaman newspaper with its headline reading 'the constitution suspended' as people gathered in support outside its headquarters
Seized Turkish Daily 'now pro-Govt'
The front page of Sunday's edition of Zaman, the first under new ownership, bears an image of Mr Erdogan and the headline "Historic excitement about the bridge". The articles says Mr Erdogan is to lay the last part of a third bridge across the Bosphorus that is close to completion. The newspaper said "Throw him out" was uttered by a policeman who ordered a journalist at the protest to be removed.
It is unclear how the new newspaper was published at short notice, and where it was printed.
The Twitter feed that used to belong to Zaman now redirects automatically to that of Yarina Bakis.
Zaman's website is now inaccessible, but has a holding message promising there will soon be "unbiased coverage for our readers".
Turkey ranks 149th among the 180 countries in the Reporters Without Border's World Press Freedom Index 2015
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