The Turkish media has recently been reporting on the Turkish AKP government's tactics to silence the voices of opposition among Turkish journalists. Most recently, the prominent senior Turkish writer and journalist Cuneyd Arcayurek of the center left secular daily Cumhuriyet, and the Kanalturk TV channel and its executives and employees have been scrutinized by the Turkish Finance Ministry, which secretly examined their bank accounts and all their financial transactions. Other journalists who oppose the AKP government have in the past been similarly investigated.

The following are excerpts from some of the media coverage on the subject:

Kanalturk's Tuncay Ozkan in Letter to PM: "J'Accuse"

Journalist Tuncay Ozkan, founder and executive at Kanalturk, who is a vocal critic of the AKP government and its Islamization efforts, published an open letter to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan titled "I Accuse." [1] Following are excerpts:

"I am at peace because you have proved me right. Time has proven my stand against your policies to be moral. I already knew that you could be this bad [...] I no longer need to tell about the concerns I have about you, as all of Turkey now sees the real person and the hypocrite that you are.

"You and your government are trying to silence freedom [of speech], to eliminate diversity of opinion, [and] to paralyze and defame the media and the intellectual circles by use of financial and administrative methods that are found only in fascist regimes. You buy [people] and threaten those that you cannot buy. Those of us who do not surrender out of fear are left to the attacks, lies and libels of those [in the Islamist media] that you invite and host in your decorated airplane. To those of us whom you fail to intimidate, you send your finance minister, [Kemal] Unakitan, who is known by the entire country to be corrupt. For this purpose you created a new media. What is this media for, what is it used for? [...] Instead of standing before the people as a prime minister of a new mentality, and keeping your [election] promises to eliminate parliamentary immunity, you hide behind that immunity to escape the many charges of corruption and fraud against you. I accuse you of not keeping your promises to your electorate and of lying to Turkey.

"You have been caught red-handed... Nothing can save you from the hands of the law and justice and the nation's conscience. The unlawful, illegal and disgusting crime committed by your Finance Ministry against Kanalturk and its staff and against its founders, executives, and correspondents is now a stain on your face. You cannot look into the mirror. From now on you, your political partners, and your name will carry this shame throughout history. By what right do you and your men trample on individual rights and on a private area, that are protected by our laws? How dare you send instructions to banks demanding that they provide you with information about the financial status of private citizens who work for Kanalturk, along with copies of every check they wrote, every transfer they made? How dare you break the laws like this? [...]

"As a citizen and intellectual, I accuse you of lawlessness. [...] Since those who commit these crimes are not inhibited, I won't be, either. I will tell the truth. Don't you follow all those who resist your policies to transform Turkey along the lines of your political ideology [ie Islamism]? [...]

"In the face of injustice and persecution I seek my lawful rights. I never tire or fear, and can never be bought. [...] The court that will handle the legal action we will take [against your actions] will expose the entire truth [about you], and even if it does not, I promise that I will continue to tell the truth to my people and to all the institutions in the world. To speak is my duty and reporting a crime is my mission. [...] You cannot silence me or the Kanalturk family, or the honorable journalist Cuneyt Arcayurek, who is considered the dean and icon of the Turkish press. [...]

"Confusing the public, poisoning people's [minds], immersing your fundamentalism and intolerance in a swamp of taqiya, and intimidating people by inciting your fans to hatred and lies are great crimes! If you cannot rid yourself of this malady, you cannot sit in the seat of the prime minister of the liberal, republican Turkey of freedoms. Abusing faith and religion and using them for hostility and vengeance is a crime. I warn you and those in your circle. [...] The truth is bigger than you. No matter what you do, truth has a way of coming out. You cannot stop it. [...]

"I want justice. I want lawfulness. You can have me tried for this protest, that comes from my heart. I have come to expect anything to happen to us in the Turkey that you rule. Anything can happen. I am waiting. I am watching. Turkey is watching. The world is watching you [...]"

Will Kanalturk Survive the AKP Attack?

Turkish columnist Mustafa Mutlu of the secular Turkish daily Vatan wrote: [2] "Tuncay Ozkan [of Kanalturk] appeared before the Executive Board of Turkish Journalists Association. He told his story, with all its truth and related documents, and he answered our questions:

"'Are you the owner of Kanalturk?'

"'No. I loaned $3 million to Kanalturk's founders, and I did not want to own any shares; because I thought that this would impair my work and my freedom as a producer. The channel was founded by my faithful friends, with whom I worked for many years.'

"'How did you find the money?'

"'[...] They spread rumors that I spent $17 million for Kanalturk. This is not true. [...] I gave the founding company about $3 million through official channels, i.e. by bank transfer, for which I have the documents. I made that money as an executive - [during my] many years in Kanal D, then in the Cukurova Group, all of which is documented. Here is the documentation of my salaries as well. I did not indulge myself or waste my money; I saved it. I gave it to friends who I believed would be able to realize my dreams for my country and my profession. All the money I ever made was taxed first. I never received a penny that I did not pay taxes on.'

"'So you did not inherit the money from your father?'

"'They write so many things about my late father. Some say he was an MIT [Turkish Intelligence] man. Some say he was a trillionaire. My father was an employee in a newspaper's printing house. His only possessions were us, his children. Every penny he earned he spent on our education. And he was only 40 years old when we lost him.'

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"'[...] They say that the opposition parties CHP [Republican People's Party] and MHP [the National Movement Party] are providing financial support to your channel.'

"'That is a lie. We have never received anything from any political party. Our channel has a production company. We made offers to many political parties to make documentaries for them. We have to make some money to keep the company afloat. Anyway, so far no party has accepted our offer. Had they agreed, naturally we would have received some money; but there is nothing wrong with that.'

"'[...]Do you think it is appropriate for you as a journalist to be involved so much with politics?'

"'All enlightened people should be involved with politics. Naturally I will be active in politics for the sake of my beliefs, my opinions, and my principles. I will stand against corruption, fundamentalism and separatism. This is a duty for all of us.'

"'How did the pressure on Kanalturk start?'

"'Kanalturk has always been inspected. We thought it natural, and never objected to inspection. But one morning in December 2006 we found every organization in Turkey inspecting our premises at the same time. You wouldn't believe it - even the firefighters were there, peering into the chimneys. The police inspecting the security cameras, the Ministries of Labor and Finance, tax authorities - they were all in the building at the same time. [...]

"'We were not concerned at the beginning, until [Hurriyet] columnist Emin Colasan published the official document that proved all this to be more than a simple tax inspection. The inspectors were not only interested in what we earned or spent or what taxes we paid. They were investigating the personal assets and credit card statements of our programmers, who worked on a volunteer basis and didn't make a penny from the channel. This turned into a property investigation, rather than a tax inspection.

"'In an investigation of this kind, the office of the prosecutor [i.e. the attorney-general] should be involved. Neither I nor the shareholders or the programmers have anything to hide or questions we cannot answer. But they are not investigating us within legal boundaries. I ask you: when there is so much pressure on us, what colleague of ours will do a program on our channel? Wouldn't they be afraid, intimidated? Of course they would. And that is their real goal - to frighten, intimidate, silence...'

"'What are you planning to do?'

"'Obviously, we will go to courts. We will also write about this injustice, inside and outside [Turkey], from every platform.'

"'Do these events harm your institution?'

"'Of course they do. Think about it: Imagine you are an organization that advertises on this channel... Although all the invoices and receipts exist, you are getting phone calls [from authorities] asking you every detail of how much you paid, for what services, etc. Can an advertiser who does not want to be on the government's bad side not be affected by all this? We [i.e. Kanalturk] have monthly expenses in the millions of dollars. If we have no income, we cannot continue. That is exactly what they [i.e. the AKP] want!'

Turkish Columnist: "Where Are the International Press Organizations? Where is the E.U.?"

Columnist Emin Colasan of the mainstream, wide-circulation Hurriyet wrote: [3] "For some time, Turkey has been ruled by 'special [government] operations.' With the power of state that it acquired, the AKP government is attempting to eliminate people or institutions that they dislike. It is not easy! They don't always succeed.

"Let's look at some of their special operations:

"a) They decided to get rid of the president of YYU University in Van, Professor Yucel Askin. They searched Prof. Askin's home when he was abroad. They made arrangements with the judiciary in Van and Prof. Askin was arrested. The university's secretary-general, who was also arrested, committed suicide while in detention. [4]

"b) They [the AKP] mobilized to get rid of Gen. Yasar Buyukanit. They arranged for a prosecutor - again from the judiciary in Van - to prepare a bogus indictment known as the Semdinli indictment, and they attacked Gen. Buyukanit. Their goal was to implicate and stain his name, to prevent him from becoming chief of general staff of the Turkish military. The author of the bogus indictment was later removed from his profession. [5]

"c) They [the AKP] wanted to eliminate the president of the university in Samsun, Professor Ferit Bernay, and set up a parliamentary commission to investigate him. They were unable to find anything against Prof. Bernay.

"d) They [the AKP] tried very hard to implicate some military personnel in the shootings in the High Court that took place after the Islamist daily Vakit incited its readers against the judges. [6]

"e) They went into the private bank accounts of some journalists and opposition politicians, using illegal piracy methods. I wrote about this in my June 1, 2006 column; I exposed and warned them. They did not care. They added to and exaggerated the figures, and had them published in [their] media. When I exposed my case, they concealed information from other individuals and institutions that they had been targeting, holding onto that information for future blackmail. The finance minister told their fans at [the Islamist daily] Yeni Safak that CHP Chairman Deniz Baykal had large sums of money in his bank account. How could he know?

"f) They went into the bank accounts of Kanalturk journalists. The Finance Ministry officially asked the banks to provide all the figures. They did this under the pretext of 'tax investigation.' The results of this attempt are not yet known.

"This of course is only a partial list, and it does not include many more [examples].

"They are using the power of the state, the judiciary, the finance ministry, and the comptrollers to silence and intimidate the secular, patriotic, nationalist, and Ataturkist people and institutions that they dislike. You can't find on that list anyone of their team, especially the wrongdoings, theft, fraud, and corruption in the local governments [the majority of which are run by the AKP]. The ruling party does not see those. Their mentality is 'my thief is good'.

"What happens to Kanalturk is not being sufficiently covered by the media. Other than a few columnists, no one has written about it. [...] A media organ critical of the government, and its journalists, producers, and executives, is being attacked with the purpose of silencing them. This is an important, serious, grave, and frightening matter.

"Another question: Are any other television channels being subjected to the same intimidation campaign as Kanalturk? No! Don't the media organizations that support this government have anything to investigate?

"Where are our intellectuals, who preach every day about 'freedom of thought and speech, and democracy?' [...] When they face the power of the government. they all become silent. But they are not the only ones who remain as spectators to these attacks on Kanalturk and on journalists. Where is the international media, that never stops talking about freedom of speech? Where is the 'freedom-loving' E.U.? [...] I have been awaiting a reaction from those. Not a sound."