Turkish Police Raid Company Tied to US-Based Dissident
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Police in Istanbul carried out a dawn raid Wednesday, using tear gas to enter the headquarters of a media company linked to a government critic, enforcing a court order to seize the business.
A prosecutor has ordered Koza-Ipek Holding placed under the management of a trustee while its ties to the movement led by Fethullah Gulen, a US-based dissident, are investigated. The government accuses the movement of trying to destabilize the state and prosecutors have labeled it a terrorist organization.
The move was part of a broad crackdown on followers of Gulen that has been underway since December 2013 when prosecutors launched a corruption investigation of government ministers and people close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan alleges that the probes were part of an attempted coup.
Hundreds of police and judiciary officials suspected of ties to the movement have been dismissed. In May, Turkey's banking regulator seized a bank associated with the movement.
Demonstrators gathered at Koza-Ipek's Ankara premises on Wednesday in protest of the decision. Critics denounced the action as a government crackdown on opposition voices ahead of an election Nov. 1, according to The Associated Press.
Koza-Ipek owns opposition television stations Bugun TV and Kanal Turk, the Bugun and Millet newspapers and other business interests.
The seizure comes amid more widespread pressure on critical media in Turkey that international watchdogs have called a crisis for the free press. Last month, the secular-leaning Turkish daily Hurriyet's headquarters was vandalized by a mob following verbal attacks on the newspaper by Erdogan.
