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US Ally Turkey Throws Journalists In Jail For "Attempting To Overthrow The Government"
Let’s just be clear: while it’s not precisely clear what combination of voter fraud, intimidation, and coercion ultimately led to Sunday’s sweeping ballot box victory for AKP in Turkey, there’s little question that the election results reflect the will of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan more than they reflect the will of the people.
Indeed, quite a few observers have voiced concerns over the election outcome including the US.
"We have both publicly and privately raised our concerns about freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly in Turkey," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said on Monday.
For those unfamiliar with the backstory, Erdogan effectively started a civil war with the PKK in order to convince the public that only a dictator is capable of keeping the peace. Meanwhile, the PKK claims that Ankara has been using ISIS affiliates to stage what amount to false flag suicide bombings on Turkish citizens in order to frighten voters into relinquishing their support for the pro-Kurdish HDP.
The turmoil led directly to a plunging lira and crackdowns on anyone that even looked like they might be against the government. For example, here are some images from attacks on HDP offices in the lead up to the elections:
Indeed, just a week prior to the events depicted above, Ankara arrested three Vice News journalists (two British citizens and an Iraqi) for allegedly "engaging in terror activity" on behalf of ISIS. And as we said at the time, the media crackdown didn't stop there. Turkish police also raided Koza-Ipek Media which, as AFP noted, owns the "Turkish dailies Bugun and Millet, the television channels stations Bugun TV and Kanalturk and the website BGNNews.com and is close to Erdogan's political rival, the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen."
Now, in the wake of "elections" which virtually no impartial observer considers legitimate, Turkey has arrested the editors of a news magazine and charged them with attempting to orchestrate a "coup." Here's NBC:
Editors of a left-leaning Turkish news magazine were charged on Tuesday with attempting to topple the government over a cover suggesting Sunday's election strengthening President Tayyip Erdogan could lead to a "civil war," the journal said.
Nokta's latest edition carried the cover headline "the beginning of civil war" after the ruling AK Party founded by Erdogan regained the parliamentary majority it had lost in a June poll.
"Senior editors Cevheri Guven and Murat Capan have been sent to jail pending trial over charges of 'staging a coup attempt' and 'attempting to overthrow the government,'" Nokta said on its Twitter account.
Journalists accused of involvement in coup conspiracies against Erdogan have in the past been held in custody for months or even years awaiting trial.
Turkey, which aspires to membership of the European Union, ranks towards the bottom of global press freedom rankings. Erdogan's opponents fear Sunday's election result, which could pave the way for him to assume greater presidential powers, could encourage increasingly authoritarian rule.
Obviously, this is a complete farce. It's Ankara that started the civil war and it began months ago. This is just another example of Erdogan persecuting dissent and frankly, it's appalling that we're talking about a NATO member and a country that's considered one of the most important emerging markets in the world.
This is a backward state run by what amounts to a dictator and he's managed to secure Washington's tacit support for a brutal crackdown on his political foes by agreeing to let the US fly missions from Incirlik. This is, and always has been, an unholy alliance, and for those who contend that no matter what the political situation, we must still pay attention to Turkey due to its status as an up and coming economy, we encourage you to have a look at a six month chart of the lira prior to the post-election rally. That's what happens when you're a third world autocracy masquerading as a partially developed economy.
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Qui cum canibus concumbunt cum pulicibus surgent
"In pine tar is, in clay nun is
In mud eels is, in clay nun is."
Boy, that President Tayyip Erdogan, sounds like a real TURKEY!
Sorry, I couldn't resist...
So let me get this straight. What we have here is a Turkey coup?
Hey the Media and Wall St in the USA have staged a dual citizen coup and nobody went to JAIL.
We need Erdogan here lol.
Muslims are nothing but trouble. There can be nice Muslims and good people can be Muslims, but in the core, no the moral base is not there.
Ishmaelites. 'nuff said
crap garnished with bullshit. show me the "moral base" of Christendom... as applied in some places
"It may be that religion is dead, and if it is, we had better know it and set ourselves to try to discover other sources of moral strength before it is too late." ~ Pearl S. Buck
USA fully supports dictatorial loons like Erdogan in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, UAE and overthrows others that don't comply ;-)
Abe and Erdogan, long lost identical fascist twins.
The Western media will completely ignore the fake elections in Turkey as they ignore the Saudi war in Yemen. It's good to own the media.
"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." -- William Colby, former CIA Director, cited by Dave Mcgowan, Derailing Democracy
And that was thirty years ago. CIA control has only increased exponentially since then.
Amen, JO.
“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
-William Casey
So Turkey is now competing with the new entertainment capital of the world? (Not Hollywood: Washington DC!) But seriously, I thought Turkey had it a bit more together than this. Apparently not. Another country falling apart and corrupted. Not too many left to go. Here comes the 1000 years of darkness Reagan warned about, sooner than I thought.
We in Russia not only jail opposition and journalists who still think they can work against our regime, but we even kill them infront of Kremlin. And wait till you hear what our allies in China and North Korea does to any kind of opposition.
Return to your native madhouse. Urgently required object for a dissertation. Cookies with chlorpromazine in the range.
In the West we are more subtle and effective. If they don't comply they are ostracized and their careers will be over. That is how you coerce them. Remember, most news of the MSM is fed to them by state news agencies.
He may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch.
Jail?
I thought Turkey just suicided them in their hotel rooms or T-boned them with the occasional vehicle.
I prefer our method, burn them alive in their radio controlled Mercedes, gosh sometimes I am so proud to be an American.
Edrogan wants to restore the Ottoman Empire. He is already undermining the Balkans. Many people nervous there about the prospect of a restored Ottoman Empire. Not too many fond memories.
islamic terror empire... what's not to like?
he wrote "a restored Ottoman Empire" and you wrote back "islamic terror empire"
by that, you proved that you have no frigging clue what he is talking about
Well do you know what was happening in the Ottoman Empire? I've read a lot about it. Beheadings and impaling was the fun of the day. So, yeah, suck it.
Erdogan is Merkel's friend. Time for Germans to man the fuck up and throw Merkel out already
Turkey is a remnant of an empire, not a historical nation state. Unlike the European empires of the past, the Ottoman empire did not spring from a single ethnic country that expanded to conquer and rule over other lands, but emerged from a tribe/capital city centre. When they lost the control of most of the territories after losing the World War I, the territories that they were able to retain became the de-facto nation-state Turkey. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk tried to create a Turkish national identity, but the ethnic identities that existed for centuries are too strong to be dissolved into the Turkish national identity. So for all practical purposes Turkey remains an empire, although much truncated one and requires a strong determination from the core of the empire to hold together.
It is not suprising that the core of the empire, the ethnic Turks, supports a leader who stands strong in opposing any further disintegration of the empire, even if the methods used to achieve that are not palatable to modern liberals. Threats to national identity always trump liberal values. They supported Mustafa Kemal Ataturk then and they support Recep Tayyip Erdogan now.
islam is the worst tragedy could happen to this world and jews and black people
. . . dont forgot the whites and yellows and christians and browns and shintos and buddhists and bankists.
and cats and dogs. and parakeets ... fuckin parakeets are gonna be the death of us all.
. . . . Ankara's crackdown on the press continues as the government is now jailing opposition reporters and accusing them of attempting to orchestrate a "coup."
At least they aren't pepper spraying, beating and shooting journalists like Israel is lately.
personally, i am boycotting Turkey. No more holidays in Istanbul for me.
sounds like a warm up for a strategy soon to come to the US
Well, if even the neocons don't like Erdogan, the Turkish military may have to remove him as they depend on the US for parts and supplies.
I'm not a Erdogan voter myself. But you need to understand something. This so called one size fits all democracy ideal is just stupid. Every country is different. Turkey is one of the most complicated countries on earth (every 'ism' you can think of, race issues, empire legacy etc).
Gulen and other agents spread a lot of garbage and it makes the country look bad as well.
Google 'Turkey' news. 50% pure garbage propaganda by anti Turk people (have agenda or just racist, discriminatory). As a reporter your suppose to be unbias. At the very least do your research before writing low tier trash.
Anyways some of those reporters deserve what they get for breaking the law and others are just traitors supporting PKK terrorist.
Every case is different of course and needs it day in court.