Media targeted in Turkey´s post-coup crackdown

ISTANBUL: Turkish media played a crucial role in averting the coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, yet dozens of journalists are now being targeted in the sweeping crackdown after the failed putsch.

Since July 15, reporters have been arrested or suspended, accused of conspiring against Erdogan, while authorities have raided newspapers and scrapped TV licences over links to the man they blame for the coup, US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.

Istanbul anti-terror prosecutors on Monday issued arrest warrants for 42 journalists, having already detained over 13,000 soldiers, police, judges and civil servants.

Eight of those journalists have been detained so far, while 11 were believed to have left the country, Dogan news agency said.

"It is saddening and unacceptable," Turgay Olcayto, president of the Turkish Journalists´ Association told AFP.

"We are concerned about the detentions," he said, citing the fact that suspects can be held without charge for as long as 30 days because of the state of emergency.

"We want colleagues who are engaged in real journalism to be unharmed in this process. That´s the only thing we want from the government," Olcayto said.

London-based rights group Amnesty International said that the warrants represented a "draconian clampdown on freedom of expression".

International Federation of Journalists president Philippe Leruth said the new arrest warrants "are aimed, one more time, at targeting journalists who are simply doing their jobs."

Yet Turkish officials say the journalists concerned are a tiny proportion of those working in Turkey and all will be given a fair hearing to see if they have links to the coup.

Among those detained was prominent, veteran journalist Nazli Ilicak who was fired from the pro-government Sabah daily three years ago for criticising ministers embroiled in a corruption scandal.

"She is an experienced journalist. I don´t believe she might have a link with (the coup)," said Olcayto.

Also detained was Hanim Busra Erdal, a former writer for the Zaman daily, which was a pro-Gulen newspaper until authorities took over it earlier this year.

Other prominent journalists hit with warrants include the commentator Bulent Mumay and the news editor of Fox TV in Turkey, Ercan Gun.

Erdogan´s government denies it is systematically curbing press freedom, arguing that it needs to pursue "traitors" and "terrorists" threatening the state.

European NATO allies have charged that the latest sweep further darkens the picture for press freedom in Turkey after Zaman, which was the biggest-selling daily newspaper, was raided by police and state administrators were brought in.

"A country that jails its own university professors and journalists imprisons its future," said Italy´s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

The group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranks Turkey 151st out of 180 countries in its World Press Freedom Index.