Media Authority Fines Broadcaster over Alleged 'Coup' Remarks by CHP's İstanbul Head

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The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) yesterday (May 7) suspended the broadcast of a program on pro-opposition Halk TV for five episodes for "provoking people into hatred and animosity."

The ban was issued over the remarks by Canan Kaftancıoğlu, the İstanbul chair of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP). In a broadcast on April 30, she had said, "There is a reality that in the next election, in a snap election or in another way ... I see a change in the ruling power or even a system change."

Senior figures from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lashed out at Kaftancıoğlu for using the phrase "in another way," which they claimed was a call for a coup against the government.

İhsan Şenocak, the AKP's İstanbul chair, said in a tweet that "'In some way' if it doesn't happen with an election...' Our nation threw those who attempted this to the sea from the Martyr's Bridge on July 15," referring to the coup attempt in July 2016.

AKP's parliamentary group deputy chair Mehmet Muş also referred to the 2016 coup attempt, saying, "Don't even think about it. Because we know how those who tried 'another way' on July 15 ended up."

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli, an ally of the AKP, also said in a tweet that "miserable politicians are playing with fire by saying, 'in another way'."

In response to accusations, Kaftacıoğlu said that her words were nitpicked and "only those with a putschist mind" can interpret them as a call for a coup.

On the media authority's ban, she said, "Halk TV and journalists did what their profession requires and will continue to do so. It shouldn't be forgotten that intolerance to the press, which is accepted as the fourth power in democracies, is the most prominent feature of the pro-coup mentality."

"Turkey's agenda is not the artificial enemies that you made up at your desks but the struggle to make a living, the fight against the epidemic," she further said.

Özgür Özel, the CHP's parliamentary group deputy chair, was also recently accused of calling for a coup for saying, "The end of the palace regime is coming." (EKN/VK)