The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) has levied a nearly TL 1 million penalty on the Samanyolu Broadcasting Group in what Samanyolu executives consider yet another attempt to silence media outlets close to Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.
“As if there were no other channels, RTÜK is exclusively following our channels and attempting to silence them with astronomic penalties,” said Samanyolu Haber TV Editor-in-Chief Metin Yıkar, commenting on the fine. “RTÜK should be the institution that monitors and regulates this country's television networks, but it has completely abandoned this role and assumed the position of a political actor,” added Yıkar.
The Samanyolu group has been subjected to a series of penalties and punishments since severe corruption allegations targeting Cabinet ministers and other key figures close to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) emerged on Dec. 17, 2013. Since then, the Samanyolu TV and Samanyolu Haber TV networks have been levied a total of 145 administrative fines totaling TL 4 million. RTÜK has also punished the network by temporarily suspending a number of its programs.
Samanyolu Broadcasting Group Chairman Hidayet Karaca has been in jail since Dec. 14 as the result of a crackdown against Gülen-affiliated media outlets that also saw the editor-in-chief of the Zaman daily, Ekrem Dumanlı, taken into custody. Dumanlı was subsequently released.
The AK Party has routinely imposed heavy financial punishments on critical media outlets. The Doğan Media Group, the largest in Turkey, was handed a whopping TL 4.8 billion tax fine in 2009, although the amount was later reduced following negotiations. Last year, the critical Taraf daily announced that it had been fined TL 5.5 million by the Tax Inspection Council Administration of the Ministry of Finance over its scrap paper sales to paper mills. The daily had written that other newspapers also engage in the sale of scrap paper, but Taraf was the only one fined for the activity.
Published on Sunday's Zaman, 15 February 2015, Sunday
Latest news, academic excerpts, commentary, book reviews and interviews on Fethullah Gulen and the Hizmet Movement (aka The Gulen Movement).
Search This Blog
Overview
Content from 164 countries/states
Categories
New Audio Podcast
Some Highlights
- Top Three Reasons Why Turkey’s President Erdogan is Obsessed with Gulen
- Turkish witch-hunt against the Gulen movement lacks one thing: Evidence
- Bill Clinton on Fethullah Gulen's contribution to the world
- Erdoğan’s war against Hizmet: Step by step
- Is Gulen Movement a religious order?
- Is the Gülen Movement a civil society initiative?
- Popular Islam – Hizmet-Gülen Movement and Fethullah Gülen
- Why do they lie about Fethullah Gülen?
- The Responsibility of the Hizmet movement
- Gülen movement is a chance for humanity, American professor says
- Gulen Movement: An attempt to represent Islam and Muslims positively
- Muslims Must Combat the Extremist Cancer
- The Place of the Gulen Movement in the intellectual history of Islam
- A Universal Islamic Phenomenon in Turkish Religious Practice: the Gülen Case
Suggested Readings
Disclaimer: Copyrights and ideas in the articles belong to their respective owners. Hizmet Movement (Gulen Movement) Blog may not be held liable from the content of articles nor their potential misuse by third parties. Articles shared are not necessarily endorsed. Links and images used in the blog posts may differ from those at their original source. Translated articles are solely intended for the convenience of the readers, and may include minor errors.