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Turkey's purge continues: Wednesday August 17
Turkey court shuts down pro-Kurdish newspaper: State media[AlAhram] A Turkish court has ordered the temporary closure of a newspaper accusing it of links with Kurdish militants and spreading terrorist propaganda, state media said on Tuesday. The court in Istanbul accused the pro-Kurdish Ozgur Gundem of "acting as the de facto news outlet" for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), state-run news agency Anadolu said. A Turkish official confirmed the court order. The PKK -- considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States -- has waged a separatist insurgency in the southeast since 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed since it first took up arms. The official, who did not wish to be named, said the decision had no relation to the state of emergency declared after last month's failed coup in Turkey. Launched in 1992, leftist daily Ozgur Gundem has been the subject of court closures and raids in the past and its journalists have been arrested. It was closed from 1994 until April 2011 when it started publishing again. The paper has featured the writings of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, imprisoned since 1999. Turkey police raid companies with alleged links to Gulen: Report [AlAhram] Turkish police on Tuesday raided dozens of companies in Istanbul in search of 120 suspects wanted after last month's botched coup attempt, state media reported. Police carried out simultaneous raids on 44 businesses including a holding firm in the Uskudar and Umraniye districts on the Asian side of Istanbul, the Anadolu news agency reported. The companies targeted have not been named so far. It is not clear how many suspects have been detained in the raids. Turkish authorities have undertaken a relentless crackdown on alleged Gulen supporters in the wake of the coup, detaining over 35,000 people. Almost 11,600 have since been released. Posted by: trailing wife 2016-08-17 |
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