Edoğan's 'Warning' to Columnists Creates a Growing Stir
A steadily increasing number of journalists voiced their criticism after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erodoğan issued his 'warning' to the press last weekend. Among other things, Erdoğan said, "You are paying the salaries of the columnists. You have no right to complain tomorrow". Democratic Left Party (DSP) Istanbul MP Süleyman Yağız addressed Erdoğan in a letter of inquiry.
The website http://kontrolsuzkoseyazarlari.wordpress.com/ was launched as a reaction of columnists after Erdoğan's speech at a summit of provincial chairmen of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) last Friday (26 February). In reference to the online protest of the journalists MP Yağız asked the prime minister in his letter of inquiry: "What do you think about the columnists who join common ground regardless of their diverse points of views and show their reactions against you? Does the campaign correspond to your understanding of press freedom?"
In the meantime, the number of journalists who signed the online letter of protest climbed up to 55.
Yağız asked Erdoğan: Are you not being unjust?
In the context of the Prime Minister's warning towards many journalists and writers who were being threatened for their opinions, Yağız asked, "Does that not show that you are unjust?"
The following letter of protest is subject of the online signature campaign launched by the journalists: "We as the undersinged columnists think that Prime Minister Erdoğan's statement that the newspaper bosses should control the columnists is contrary to obligatory press freedom and opposes the ideal of a 'democratic Turkey'. We think this is a grave attitude and voice our protest against the statement".
Yağız furthermore queried how Erdoğan was going to assess his statement to the journalists in terms of democracy in the future.
The politician's letter of inquiry also includes the reasoning of Bugün ('Today') newspaper journalist Gülay Göktürk to join the signature campaign: "Columnists have not been prosecuted upon the request of the Prime Minister yet, the peril of these words are not swept away. We are protesting a certain kind of perception. Columnists recently stand on different grounds... Even if the struggle is rough and tumble, I think the important thing is the common attitude at this point. Even if we fought with each other, I wanted to show that we take a common stance in an issue like this one". Yağız asked Erdoğan's point of view on this statement.
"Are you going to complain about these writers to their bosses?"
Yağız confronted Erdoğan with another question: "As a prime minister who criticizes newspaper bosses as well as writers every now and then and who calls on the people not to read certain newspapers, are you thinking about warning the writers who launched the signature campaign against you? Will there be any attempts to make them stop their campaign? Are you going to complain to their bosses about these writers?" (EÖ/VK)