{"id":27846,"date":"2015-10-28T22:52:43","date_gmt":"2015-10-28T22:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/?p=27846"},"modified":"2015-10-28T22:52:44","modified_gmt":"2015-10-28T22:52:44","slug":"turkey-just-when-you-think-it-cant-get-any-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/turkey-just-when-you-think-it-cant-get-any-worse\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey-just when you think it can\u2019t get any worse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Less than 48 hours before police raided two private television channels belonging to one of Turkey\u2019s largest companies, the latest target of a highly questionable legal investigation, Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto\u011flu \u00a0addressed<\/a> the country\u2019s leading businessmen:<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s turn Istanbul into a safe investment harbour with our democracy and judicial system. People who invest money here should feel they can earn more from this investment and their money is under protection,\u201d Davuto\u011flu said, adding: \u201cWe have all seen how the dictatorial regimes that disregard freedom of expression, human rights and liberties and limit entrepreneurship liberties are now collapsing\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Davutoglu was accompanied by the two top names overseeing the economy, Ali Babacan, and Mehmet \u015eim\u015fek.<\/p>\n

A day later, \u00a0not far from the luxury hotel where the country\u2019s economic czars and the business elite were respectfully listening to the Prime Minister, Special Operations police had stormed the Istanbul offices of the \u0130pek Media Group, belonging to Koza \u0130pek Holding, one of Turkey\u2019s largest companies.<\/p>\n

Forcing their way into the control rooms of the two channels, Kanalt\u00fcrk and Bug\u00fcn TV, they unplugged wires, pushed studio managers and journalists out of the way and stopped broadcasting, all of this watched minute by minute, live<\/a> on television.<\/p>\n

Tar\u0131k Toros, the editor in-chief, was served with a handwritten note, informing him that he was relieved of his duties. He was forcefully removed from the premises.<\/p>\n

TV screens went blank for a while. Later, the scheduled programmes were replaced by a documentary about camels on one channel and a programme about Adolf Hitler on the other.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, protestors outside the building were dispersed with tear gas and water cannon. Some, among them journalists, were detained for resisting. Photos of blood-stained palms waving press cards, as well as handcuffed and dragged bodies were added to Turkey\u2019s already shameful media album.<\/a><\/p>\n

Two days earlier, Koza Ipek Holding, also the owner of dailies Bug\u00fcn and Millet, was placed under administration of trustees while an investigation into their alleged ties with the US-based preacher Fethullah G\u00fclen was going on. On the day its media outlets were seized, Mr G\u00fclen\u2019s name was added to the list of the most dangerous and wanted terrorists. The G\u00fclen movement, which was the key ally of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government until their much-publicised falling out in 2013, is also listed as a terrorist organisation attempting to throw the government by non-violent means.<\/p>\n

Silencing two television channels four days before the general election is a scandalous enough obstruction of media freedom. According to legal experts<\/a>, seizing control of a private company without evidence of criminal wrongdoing is a clear violation of the Constitution and the European Convention of Human Rights.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, government-picked trustees that were installed at the holding\u2019s 22 companies are acting as judge, jury and executioner.<\/p>\n

As a result of this latest politically motivated action by the government, three listed companies belonging to Koza Ipek group have already seen their shares collapse, losing about $410 million in market value.<\/p>\n

By now, we have realized that the Erdo\u011fan led AKP government has no regard for free media. One of the AKP\u2019s deputies\u00a0already threatened<\/a> similar action against the rest of the opposition media after the 1st<\/sup> of November elections. If the European Commission president Jean Claude-Juncker\u2019s recent disgraceful comment<\/a> about the EU not \u201charping on\u201d at Turkey about its human rights record \u00a0is anything to go by, they can get away with a lot more. No wonder the EU withheld their Progress Report until after next Sunday’s election.<\/p>\n

How far Turkey\u2019s rulers can ignore the economic consequences of prolonged political uncertainty and loss of investor confidence is another matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Less than 48 hours before police raided two private television channels belonging to one of Turkey\u2019s largest companies, the latest target of a highly questionable legal investigation, Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto\u011flu \u00a0addressed the country\u2019s leading businessmen: \u201cLet\u2019s turn Istanbul into a safe investment harbour with our democracy and judicial system. People who invest money here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27846"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27848,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27846\/revisions\/27848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}