Turkey seeks to arrest 47 ex-staff from newspaper seized in March
Authorities say journalists and executives at Zaman daily, which was linked to Fethullah Gulen, sought to topple government
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s state-run news agency says authorities have issued warrants for the detention of 47 former executives or senior journalists of Zaman newspaper, allegedly associated with the US-based Muslim cleric who the government says is behind Turkey’s July 15 failed coup.
Anadolu Agency says at least one journalist, former Zaman columnist Sahin Alpay, was detained Wednesday. Zaman, which was linked to Fethullah Gulen’s religious movement, was raided by police and seized by the government in March.
Earlier this week, warrants were issued against 42 other journalists, of whom 16 of them have been detained for questioning.
The detention of journalists and wide-scale purges of officials have raised concerns about a possible witch hunt in the wake of the violent coup attempt that killed about 290 people.
Zaman was placed under the management of trustees by a court in March, heightening concerns over deteriorating press freedoms in Turkey.
The court action was brought by a public prosecutor and came amid an intensified government campaign against Gulen’s moderate movement and claims that it attempted to bring down the government.
The move, which also affected Zaman’s sister newspaper, the English-language Today’s Zaman, and a news agency linked to the group, further reduced the pool of opposition television and newspapers in the country, which is dominated by pro-government television channels and newspapers.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.