Cyprus-Forum.com

[repulsewarrior]

...perhaps Tim, you can explain this issue of Hurriyet for me, it has been a long time since i've seen reporting like this, from Turkey, like this; how is it possible?

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey ... sCatID=345
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/whos-t ... sCatID=409
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/the-19 ... sCatID=474
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/unsust ... sCatID=468
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/terror ... sCatID=409
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/uh-oh- ... sCatID=398
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ashame ... sCatID=515

...wow, in a single issue, no less.

[CBBB]

...perhaps Tim, you can explain this issue of Hurriyet for me, it has been a long time since i've seen reporting like this, from Turkey, like this; how is it possible?

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey ... sCatID=345
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/whos-t ... sCatID=409
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/the-19 ... sCatID=474
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/unsust ... sCatID=468
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/terror ... sCatID=409
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/uh-oh- ... sCatID=398
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ashame ... sCatID=515

...wow, in a single issue, no less.

I wonder if the same articles appeared in the printed and online Turkish versions of the paper?

[B25]

RW, you know what this means now don't you???

Another Turkish newspaper that Erdogan is going to take over and some other journalists will be imprisoned.

Way to go Turkey.

[GreekIslandGirl]

It may be a miracle, but I'm going to pray for the safety of these Turks (?) and William Armstrong.

[Tim Drayton]

Just my personal take, since you ask:

Erdoğan hasn't yet managed to take over all of the media in Turkey in the way that Putin has in Russia, although that is obviously the goal. Hürriyet belongs to the stable of Aydın Doğan, a once influential media mogul who has lost quite a few of his titles, but who retains some clout. Doğan's press outlets were hostile to the Erdoğan regime for several years up to the most recent elections, but he appeared to capitulate to the regime after the elections. On the other hand, the arrest of Reza Zerrab in the USA is a huge story and may have huge domestic implications in Turkey, given that he was heavily implicated in the corruption investigations of December 2013 which appeared to go to the very top (i.e. Erdoğan) and were summarily brought to an end when political influence was brought to bear so as to remove all of the prosecutors and police officers involved in the investigation from the case. Nobody really knows how this is going to play out, but it could lead to a reopening of the 2013 investigations. Erdoğan has had lots of luck, but perhaps the day when he will have to answer in court for his crimes may come. Aydın Doğan is obviously eying up these developments and perhaps thinking it is time to strike a more anti-Erdoğan line again.

Thankfully, there still remain at least three truly independent newspapers in Turkey, and as long as people like Can Dündar refuse to be cowed by the threat of rearrest, there remains hope.

[Tim Drayton]

Turkey corruption: Gold trader’s arrest in Miami could put President Erdogan in the spotlight once again

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 46901.html

[repulsewarrior]

There is speculation that the same charges have been opened in Iran, and that despite what Zarrab's lawyer says about his client being unaware of the charges against him, a plea bargain and American Justice was preferred, as a way out.

[repulsewarrior]

Can Dundar, the top editor at Cumhuriyet, a Turkish daily, and Erdem Gul, its Ankara editor, arrived at a courthouse Friday in Istanbul for their trial on espionage charges.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/26/world ... .html?_r=0

...and the Constitutional Court? Were these two guys released from jail, to stand on trial, again? With so many players, and so many charges, it is hard to keep track.

[Tim Drayton]

Can Dundar, the top editor at Cumhuriyet, a Turkish daily, and Erdem Gul, its Ankara editor, arrived at a courthouse Friday in Istanbul for their trial on espionage charges.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/26/world ... .html?_r=0

...and the Constitutional Court? Were these two guys released from jail, to stand on trial, again? With so many players, and so many charges, it is hard to keep track.

No, the Constitutional Court did not rule on the merits of the case (it has no authority to do so), which is ongoing before the criminal courts. The Constitutional Court ruled on the constitutionality of Dundar and Gül's pre-trial detention, which it said was an infringement on their personal rights, so they were released pending trial. The trial still continues, but since the Constitutional Court in its ruling defended the constitutional rights of press freedom and freedom of speech, and said that this trial was an attack on these, under normal circumstances, the case against them would now be a dead duck (since no other court can oppose the Constitutional Court). As to what will happen in an ever more dictatorial Turkey, who knows? In a way, it will be a litmus test of the extent to which the rule of law still applies in the country.

(As to the Constitutional Court's decision and its implications, I made a translation of an interview on this very subject with one of Turkey's leading experts on constitutional law, and posted it here:

http://www.timdrayton.com/a72.html
)

At the hearing yesterday, the court ordered that the proceedings be heard in secret and that the courtroom be vacated. However, a large number of members of parliament who were present refused to leave and insisted on being accepted as intervening parties. In the turmoil, the court adjourned the hearing until 1 April.

[Tim Drayton]

Yet more evidence, if needed, that Erdoğan has lost his mind came in his outburst in reaction to attendance by foreign diplomats at Friday's session of the Dündar/Gül trial, in which he said they should have applied for permission to do so. It appears that the 1961 Vienna Convention, to which Turkey is signatory, gives diplomats every right to do this. What could be excused as a slip of a tongue from the person in the street is unacceptable coming from the head of state.