Erdoğan is crushing Turkey’s media in his bid for untrammelled power

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/18/erdogan-turkey-media-arrest-journalists

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Sunday’s round of arrests in Turkey, which included the editor-in-chief of Turkey’s largest daily newspaper, Zaman, the head of a TV channel and other journalists, comes as no surprise, as President Erdoğan spoke on Friday of a showdown with government critics.

As I am a regular commentator on Turkish affairs in the Danish and international press – and a frequent contributor to Today’s Zaman, the English-language edition of Zaman – the government’s latest move comes uncomfortably close.

Zaman is considered to be the flagship of the Gülen movement, which has now been declared public enemy number one. Gülen-inspired public prosecutors and police officers have been accused by Erdoğan of forming “a parallel state” and attempting to overthrow the government, with allegations of corruption and malfeasance levelled against ministers and prominent businessmen in an investigation launched a year ago. In a series of reprisals, some 80,000 police officers have been reassigned to new positions, and on one day alone in June the same happened to 2,517 judges and prosecutors.

According to the Turkish Journalists Union, 845 journalists lost their jobs during last year’s Gezi Park protests, and in October a report published by the opposition CHP (Republican People’s party) stated that 1,863 journalists had been fired since the AKP (Justice and Development party) came to power in 2002. Now the turn has come to the Gülenist media.

Although I am not a member of the Gülen movement, Today’s Zaman has been scrupulously fair in allowing me to present my views without editorial interference.

The Gülen movement was instrumental in enabling the AKP to come to power and consolidate its grip on Turkey, but now Erdoğan has turned on his former ally, which has led to soul-searching in the Gülen camp and schadenfreude in other circles. Nevertheless, as columnist Semih Idiz has warned, now is not the time to try and settle old scores.

The EU Commission has in its latest progress report on Turkey noted that the handling of the corruption allegations raised last December raised serious concerns that they would not be addressed in a non-discriminatory, transparent and impartial manner. But that is the last thing Erdoğan intends to do. All charges against the suspects have been dropped and a media blackout has been imposed on the proceedings of a parliamentary investigation into the scandal.

Erdoğan’s aim is to gain a two-thirds majority in parliament in the forthcoming elections in June, which will pave the way to change the constitution in favour of an executive presidency and untrammelled power. The main obstacle is a critical press.

Federica Mogherini, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, and Johannes Hahn, commissioner for enlargement negotiations, have condemned the latest crackdown as “against the European values and standards Turkey aspires to be part of”. Erdoğan, it seems, couldn’t care less.