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by **Tim Drayton** » Fri Nov 27, 2015 12:32 pm

Two more employees of one of the dwindling number of opposition newspapers have been detained pending trial in Turkey as the country moves ever more steadily towards totalitarianism. The two people detained are Can Dündar, who wrote the leading article shown on the right below in the Cumhuriyet newspaper on May 29 this year with the headline “Here are the weapons that Erdoğan calls non-existent” exposing the way the islamofascist AKP regime in Turkey was sending arms to jihadists in Syria, and the newspaper’s Ankara representative, Erdem Gül.

by **Lordo** » Fri Nov 27, 2015 1:19 pm

who exactly is erdogan sending these weapons to. is it isil or terggman of syria. or are the terggman of syria members of isil.

by **Tim Drayton** » Fri Nov 27, 2015 1:38 pm

Lordo wrote:who exactly is erdogan sending these weapons to. is it isil or terggman of syria. or are the terggman of syria mebers of isil.

It's a good question and the way any remaining vestiges of press freedom are being extinguished in Turkey probably means that we will never fully know. Erdoğan himself recently commented that the weapons that were stopped in Adana on their way to Syria (and all of the policemen and prosecutors who worked on that case have also been fired) were going to the Turkmen, but that was obviously a good populist comment in the wake of the downing of the Russian plane.

by **Tim Drayton** » Fri Nov 27, 2015 1:47 pm

Crowds are gathering outside the Cumhuriyet newspapers offices in Istanbul and Ankara in protest against these ridiculous arrests. How long will it be before riot police turn up and assault these peaceful protesters with water cannons, teargas and rubber bullets? What a contrast to the way Daesh is able to operate with almost total impunity in Turkey, even being able to stage a suicide attack on a pro-peace left-wing rally in Ankara and kill more than 100 people, which was virtually part of the AKP's election campaign.

by **GreekIslandGirl** » Fri Nov 27, 2015 2:36 pm

Tim Drayton wrote:Crowds are gathering outside the Cumhuriyet newspapers offices in Istanbul and Ankara in protest against these ridiculous arrests. How long will it be before riot police turn up and assault these peaceful protesters with water cannons, teargas and rubber bullets? What a contrast to the way Daesh is able to operate with almost total impunity in Turkey, even being able to stage a suicide attack on a pro-peace left-wing rally in Ankara and kill more than 100 people, which was virtually part of the AKP's election campaign.

Good post!

by **Tim Drayton** » Fri Nov 27, 2015 2:46 pm

The demonstration in front of the newspaper's Istanbul office:

Press freedom appears to be doomed in Turkey, but at least it isn't going to go out without protest.

by **cypriotnado** » Fri Nov 27, 2015 2:54 pm

Tim, sadly the world doesn't care. Even within the ranks of the EU states like Hungary and now Poland are now using similar tactics to close down critical press. The EU should make a stand but in the scheme of things Turkey is to important and they all choose to look the other way. The only hope now is democratic change from within.

by **Tim Drayton** » Fri Nov 27, 2015 3:02 pm

Lordo wrote:who exactly is erdogan sending these weapons to. is it isil or terggman of syria. or are the terggman of syria members of isil.

At an election meeting on May 30 (for the June election whose results Erdoğan didn’t recognise because they didn’t give ‘his’ party the majority – not that the president under the constitution is supposed to support any party) AKP Prime-Minister Davutoğlu said the following about the contents of the lorries heading for Syria that were stopped in Adana:

Evet, hiç çekinmeden söylüyorum. O yardımlar Bayırbucak Türkmenleri'ne gidiyordu. Dibimizde bir savaş olacak, orada da Türkmen kardeşlerimiz, Arap kardeşlerimiz, Kürt kardeşlerimiz katledilecek; biz de seyredeceğiz öyle mi?

Yes, I say without hesitation. That assistance was going to the Turkmen in Bayırbucak. There will be a war just down below us and our Turkmen friends, our Arab friends and our Kurdish friends there will be slaughtered – we’re going to stand by and watch, is that it?

http://onedio.com/haber/davutoglu-ndan- ... ama-517804

by **Tim Drayton** » Fri Nov 27, 2015 3:12 pm

cypriotnado wrote:Tim, sadly the world doesn't care. Even within the ranks of the EU states like Hungary and now Poland are now using similar tactics to close down critical press. The EU should make a stand but in the scheme of things Turkey is to important and they all choose to look the other way. The only hope now is democratic change from within.

Agreed, the footsteps of fascism are being heard in many places, just as in the 1930's, the last time the world was in a similar crisis. I think some people in the world do care, though. Don't forget that earlier this month, Cumhuriyet won an international press freedom award: http://www.contact.az/docs/2015/Worldwi ... lhVWF7DOGc . I believe that one of the main functions of the AKP in the global scheme of things is to protect the interests of global capital in Turkey now that it has made large investments there in manufacturing, so I don't expect anything more than crocodile tears from Western leaders. I see the slide towards totalitarianism in Turkey as being pretty inevitable now, I'm afraid, although that doesn't stop it making me sad.

by **Tim Drayton** » Fri Nov 27, 2015 6:35 pm

Police intervened against the rally in Ankara using tear gas and opposition MP Levent Gök was taken to hospital after suffering the effects of tear gas.

http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/turk ... _etti.html