Gov’t trying to subdue dissent, expresses GYV

The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) strongly criticized the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) for media crack down, amidst wave of journalists detainments on Sunday.

Underlining that democracy in Turkey is evaporating step by step; the foundation expressed “the raid against journalists, who are doing their duty within the law, can be called nothing less than a witch-hunt.

Stating that previously the members of the press detained on Sunday, had gone to the İstanbul’s main court house `Çağlayan Adliyesi` to inquire whether there had been an ongoing investigation against them or not.

The GYV statement continued, “Notably, the prosecutor who launched the raid on Sunday was the same individual, who had denied the existence of any ongoing investigation into the journalists. This is tyranny.”

Calling the developments a transformation of Turkey from democracy to authoritarianism, the GYV noted “The [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan regime is trying to portray anyone who does not kneel down to their demands as criminals. Through such persecution they are trying to silence dissent.”

The foundation highlighted “The government’s shortcomings are openly disclosed, even to its own supporters, by the very fact that they have had to conjure up even bigger lies in order to hide the fact that they have absolutely no plausible evidence that can justify the detainments.”

The GYV expresses that the detainment of Turkey’s top selling newspaper’s editor-in-chief and targeting a leading TV channel, constitutes to threat against society with resemblance of a police state; vowing “History has witnessed that such forms of persecution and despotism never succeed in silencing the truth;” calling the government’s “anti-democratic” moves “futile attempts”.

Published on BGNNews, 14 December 2014, Sunday