News / Turkey

Turkey arrests opposition daily staff over alleged links to Gulen

Saturday, 27 May 2017 10:08 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 27 May 2017 10:09 AM ]

A person walks past a newsstand bearing the latest copy of Turkey’s opposition daily Sozcu with the headline reading, ‘May 19 Freedom of Press special edition’ on a blank page, in the city of Istanbul, Turkey, May 20, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Turkey has arrested two employees of the opposition newspaper Sozcu over their alleged links to US-based Turkish figure Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for masterminding a failed military coup last year.

Turkish media said Mediha Olgun, Sozcu’s internet editor, and Gokmen Ulu, its correspondent for Izmir Province, were arrested late on Friday.

The media said that the pair faced charges including “knowingly aiding and abetting the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), without being part of its hierarchical structure,” and “aiding the assassination attempt of the president.”

Sozcu’s financial director, Yonca Yucekaleli, who had turned herself in earlier, was released on Friday.

Arrest warrants had been issued for Ulu, Olgun, and Yucekaleli along with Sozcu’s owner last week. They had all been accused of committing crimes on behalf of Gulen’s movement.

Turkey witnessed a coup attempt on July 15, 2016, when a faction of the Turkish military declared that the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was no more in charge of the country.

However, over the course of some two days, the putsch was suppressed. Almost 250 people were killed and nearly 2,200 others wounded in the abortive coup.

A group of rogue soldiers had also reportedly planned to assassinate Erdogan.

Gulen has denied the charges of having masterminded the coup.

The photo, taken on October 31, 2016, shows a security agent standing guard in front of the Cumhuriyet newspaper’s headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo by AFP)

In a post-coup crackdown, Turkish authorities have shut over 130 media outlets and jailed more than 150 journalists.

About a dozen journalists from the opposition daily Cumhuriyet are currently in prison on suspicion of supporting Gulen’s movemnet, facing jail terms of up to 43 years if convicted.

In addition to the media crackdown, Turkey has also suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, policemen, teachers, and civil servants and has arrested nearly 50,000 others.

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