Magazine Critical of the Army Closed

Faced with pressure from the General Staff on recent articles related to alleged coup plans from within the army, weekly news magazine Nokta has been closed with the unexpected announcement of its owner, businessperson Ayhan Durgun.

Editor-in-chief of the magazine Alper Görmüş disclosed the news in a press conference on Saturday.

He said: "Durgun didn't revealed any financial or political harship thet led to this decision. But it was impossible to not notice that he was stressed during the past month".

Six-month-old magazine first revealed an internal army report which classified the Turkish media outlets as pro or against the army. It was alleged that the army based its accredidation process on such reports.

Later, Nokta published the diaries of a retired Admiral which included detailed military coup plans by other generals in 2004. The article caused controversy, General Staff reacting hardly that the news aimed at weakening its reputation.

Following such comments, police raided the magazine's offices lat week and confiscated the computers.

Görmüş noted that the magazine would continue its life with another propriator.

He protested the lack of poltical sport from the government and other politicians regarding the pressure on the magazine.

"Me and my friends here, we're very sorry to reach this point. Our readers reflect their dissapointment too. Our editorial policy once again conveyed that the media has the responsibility and the power to act as the fourth power in a democracy".

Görmüş blamed the government and the judiciary for not pursuing an investigation into the military coup allegations.(EÜ)