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Turkey’s President Is Using the Coup Attempt to Crack Down on the Media

6 minute read

Turkish columnist and human rights lawyer Orhan Kemal Cengiz was at passport control at Istanbul’s main airport on the morning of July 21, wearing shorts and ready to board a flight to London for meetings, when security officials took him to a side room. A prosecutor had ordered him taken into custody. Later that day, police escorted him to a central police station in Istanbul where he was placed in a cell with three low-ranking military officials accused of participating in the failed military coup that had shocked Turkey less than a week earlier.

A prominent liberal intellectual in Turkey, the 48-year-old Cengiz was one of a growing number of journalists and media workers caught in a widening clampdown in Turkey in the aftermath of a coup attempt that left more than 200 people dead. In recent days the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has issued orders shutting down 131 media organizations, and issued arrest warrants for at least 89 journalists and other media personnel over alleged ties to the coup plot.

Coup Attempt in Turkey Ignites Night of Hell

Turkish soldiers block Istanbul's Bosphorus Bridge, which separates the European and Asian sides of the city, on July 15, 2016.
Turkish soldiers block Istanbul's Bosphorus Bridge, which separates the European and Asian sides of the city, on July 15, 2016.Gokhan Tan—Getty Images
Turkish soldiers secure the area as supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in Istanbul's Taksim Square early on July 16, 2016.
Turkish soldiers secure the area as supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in Istanbul's Taksim Square early on July 16, 2016.Emrah Gurel—AP
Two men react against a coup attempt from within the army in Ankara, Turkey, on July 16, 2016.
Two men react against a coup attempt from within the army in Ankara, Turkey, on July 16, 2016.Sinan Yiter—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks on CNN Turk via FaceTime on July 15, 2016.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks on CNN Turk via FaceTime on July 15, 2016.Burak Kara—Getty Images
People take over a tank near the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge during clashes with military forces in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 16, 2016.
People take over a tank near the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge during clashes with military forces in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 16, 2016.Gurcan Ozturk—AFP/Getty Images
People take to the street in support of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Antalya, Turkey, on July 16, 2016.
People take to the street in support of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Antalya, Turkey, on July 16, 2016.Chris McGrath—Getty Images
A tank moving into position crashes over a car as people attempt to stop it in Ankara, Turkey, on July 15, 2016.
A tank moving into position crashes over a car as people attempt to stop it in Ankara, Turkey, on July 15, 2016.Burhan Ozbilici—AP
Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are dispersed with shots in the air by the military at Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 16, 2016.
Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are dispersed with shots in the air by the military at Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 16, 2016. Murad Sezer—Reuters
People occupy a tank in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 16, 2016. Turkish Prime Minister Yildirim reportedly said that the Turkish military was involved in an attempted coup d'etat. The Turkish military meanwhile stated it had taken over control.
People occupy a tank in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 16, 2016. Turkish Prime Minister Yildirim reportedly said that the Turkish military was involved in an attempted coup d'etat. The Turkish military meanwhile stated it had taken over control.Tolga Bozoglu—EPA
People gather with their mobile phones to react against the military coup attempt in the Tuzla District of Istanbul, Turkey, on July 16, 2016.
People gather with their mobile phones to react against the military coup attempt in the Tuzla District of Istanbul, Turkey, on July 16, 2016.Isa Terli—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A wounded man is taken away after clashes with the Turkish military at the entrance to the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 16, 2016.
A wounded man is taken away after clashes with the Turkish military at the entrance to the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 16, 2016.Bulent Kilic—AFP/Getty Images
A man covered with blood points at the Bosphorus Bridge as the Turkish military clashes with people at the entrance to the bridge in Istanbul on July 16, 2016.
A man covered with blood points at the Bosphorus Bridge as the Turkish military clashes with people at the entrance to the bridge in Istanbul on July 16, 2016.Bulent Kilic—AFP/Getty Images

Turkish journalists and rights groups say the new restrictions signal a major acceleration of a clampdown on the press that was already underway well before a faction of the Turkish military attempted to overthrow the government. Under Erdogan’s government, the space for freedom of expression had already narrowed prior to the coup attempt, According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 14 journalists were in Turkey’s prisons as of December 2015, a figure that places Turkey in a comparable category with like Egypt (with 23 journalists in prison) and Iran (19). The Turkish government had been moving to seize control or shut down critical media, and also restricted the use of social media.

Cengiz said he was not questioned until the fourth and final day of his detention. (He was released on orders not to leave the country on July 24). A respected attorney and journalist with no ties to the military coup plot, he told his interrogator, a prosecutor, that his arrest made a mockery of the government’s attempt to investigate the coup plot. “If you start to arrest some people like myself: human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, et cetera, you would start to jeopardize these legal procedures,” he says over the phone. “You would make them appear unserious. If you really want to have a solid case against the coup plotters, you should carefully distinguish people. You should never give the impression that you are doing a witch-hunt.”

Read More: Turkey Could Be Taking A Big Step Backwards In Human Rights

The phrase “witch hunt” is exactly how many critics describe the government’s current approach to media. The primary target of the current crackdown are journalists the government views as affiliated with Fethullah Gulen, an influential U.S.-based religious leader who Erdogan claims was the instigator of the coup attempt. (Gulen has denied playing a role.) But in the eyes of rights advocates, the sheer scale of the clampdown suggests that the government is taking an almost farcical view of who it links to the coup plot or the Gulen movement. Gulen denies any role in the coup attempt, and Western states have urged restraint as the Turkish government reasserts its grasp on the country. On Thursday German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was “worried” by the crackdown in Turkey, saying at news conference in Berlin, “the principle of proportionality must be ensured by all.”

Cengiz previously wrote a column for Today’s Zaman, the English edition of a Gulen-linked newspaper, and also represented the papers in legal proceedings when the government seized control of them in March. He told prosecutors that, in the wake of the government’s previous moves to restrict media, Gulen-affiliated outlets offered a kind of last refuge for ordinary Turkish dissidents.

“Erdogan didn’t give us any choice. He just purged the other media so much and there was a few options for liberals like myself to write, to speak, and it was Gulen’s media. It’s funny in a way,” he says.

Read More: Turkey’s Long Night of the Soul

Though the coup failed, it came close to succeeding—and imprisoning or even killing Erdogan. So the government’s reaction has been massive in scale. On June 20 the government declared a three-month state of emergency that expands the president’s power to rule by decree with little oversight from parliament. The government has also suspended, fired, or detained tens of thousands of civil servants, and closed more than 1,000 schools.

More than 15,000 people were detained over allegations of ties to the coup plot or the Gulen network. According to Amnesty International, there is “credible evidence” that some detainees were subjected to beatings and other forms torture including rape. The government says the allegations of torture are “unfounded” and that human rights organizations fail to understand the authorities’ challenge in restoring order after a bloody and traumatic military coup attempt.

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The clampdown on media escalated this week with the issuance of arrest warrants for at least 89 journalists, including many formerly associated with the Zaman newspapers. On July 27, the government also issued a sweeping decree ordering the outright closure of 45 newspapers and 16 TV stations, including numerous regional outlets and the well-known liberal newspaper Taraf. “This goes well beyond any legitimate aim that the government might have about guaranteeing public order about upholding public order, and it’s just a very arbitrary and brutal crackdown on free expression, on free speech,” says Emma Sinclair-Webb, a senior Turkey researcher with Human Rights Watch.

Sinclair-Webb said that while the current clampdown mainly targets alleged Gulen-affiliated institutions, the government had provided no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of any of the media outlets, regardless of affiliation. “This idea of this awful labeling of people in the absence of any evidence of criminal activity is a very dangerous way to go, and so that’s the witch hunt style,” she says. “You can have media you disagree with. You can have media you find propagandistic or partisan or whatever, there’s always media like that. But this is just intolerance, part of an attempt to wipe out the Gulen movement in Turkey.”

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