Turkish daily Cumhuriyet, which saw a wave of detentions targeting executives and columnists early on Oct. 31, has published reports aimed at “stirring public disorder in line with the aims of the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ),” according to the probe’s prosecutor.| The purge enters a new phase. Erdogan now shuts down the opposition media. Soon the opposition pols will have no voice. Then they too go to the Turkish prisons... |
| Reminder, Hurriyet Daily is a pro-government mouthpiece. |
The Ergenekon case was a massive probe into hundreds of senior military personnel, journalists and politicians on charges of attempting to stage a coup against the Turkish government. It is widely believed to be a conspiracy plotted by Gülenists.
The December 2013 corruption cases targeted figures close to the government and resulted in lasting enmity between the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and the Gülenists.
According to the probe, Cumhuriyet started “publishing articles originating from FETÖ” after the probe cases and became the “public relations” outlet of terrorist organizations.
The charges also include the daily’s articles published after the failed July 15 coup attempt, believed to have been masterminded by the Gülenists. It complained that Cumhuriyet “made the counter-terrorism operations look like wars.”
The prosecutor also claimed that Cumhuriyet described anti-coup demonstrations as being marked by “hatred,” the post-coup attempt suspensions as “purges,” and the “resistance of the people against the coup-plotting soldiers as chaos.”