Police using tear gas and water cannon raided the headquarters of Turkey’s largest-circulation newspaper, hours after a court placed it under the management of trustees. Prosecutors accused the Zaman newspaper and its affiliates of praising and helping what they called a “terrorist organisation”.
“It has been a habit for the last three, four years, that anyone who is speaking against government policies is facing either court cases or prison, or such control by the government,” said Abdulhamit Bilici, editor-in-chief of Zaman. “This is a dark period for our country, our democracy.” The daily is associated with a movement led by US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, an influential political opponent of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
State-run Anadolu Agency reported on Friday that administrators had been appointed by a court to run Zaman at the request of an Istanbul prosecutor. Officials were not immediately available to confirm the reports.
Erdogan accuses Gulen of conspiring to overthrow the government by building a network of supporters in the judiciary, police and media. Gulen has denied the allegations. Erdogan and Gulen were allies until police and prosecutors seen as sympathetic to Gulen opened a corruption probe into Erdogan’s inner circle in 2013.
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