A court in Istanbul put Turkey’s Zaman newspaper under the control of the state on Friday, a decision described by the paper’s editor-in-chief as a “black day” for democracy.
The decision to do so, according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency, was made by the Istanbul Sixth Criminal Court of Peace at the behest of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. That court will name the new editorial board and management of the newspaper.
The Editor-in-chief of the Zaman, Abdulhamit Bilici, dubbed the decision a "black day for democracy" in Turkey.
Today’s Zaman editor-in-chief Sevgi Akarcesme, echoed the sentiment when she said, "Today, we are experiencing a shameful day for media freedom in Turkey. Our media institutions are being seized."
"As of today, the Constitution has been suspended," she added alluding to the fact that the Turkish Constitution outright forbids the state from seizing press equipment or institutions.
She told Reuters news agency that this move constituted "the practical end of media freedom in Turkey. The media has always been under pressure, but it has never been so blatant."
The Zaman newspaper is very critical of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and has close links to the Hizmet movement headed by the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Ankara regards that movement as a "terrorist organization" bent on overthrowing its government. Consequently many of its supporters in Turkey have been jailed.
"This is not a matter of a fight between the government and the [Gulen] movement. This is a matter of existence for Turkey," said Today's Zaman columnist according to the agency itself. "Just a few days ago, they pulled the plug on IMC TV for 'supporting terrorism', which is a massive lie."
The Turkish government took IMC TV off the air in the middle of a live interview between two journalists, Erdem Gul and Can Dundar, who had spent 92 days in jail for showing video purporting to show truckloads of arms going from Turkey to Syria.
The Turkish government has been long criticized for its treatment of the press. Last year on the Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index it ranked 149 out of 180. More than 30 journalists, according to the BBC, are currently in Turkish jails, the majority of whom are Kurdish.
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