'It is unacceptable': Union, journalists protest dismissals from daily Cumhuriyet

* Photos: TGS

Click to read the article in Turkish

After seven journalists and one archive worker were dismissed from Cumhuriyet newspaper yesterday (November 29), a protest was held in front of the newspaper's central office in İstanbul's Şişli today at 11 am upon the call of the Journalists' Union of Turkey (TGS).

Before the protest started, at least four vehicles entered the garden of the office. During the protest, police officers waited outside.

Cumhuriyet'te yönetim işten attığı 8 kişinin eylemini engellemek için gazeteye polis çağırmış. Şimdilik 4 araç var. Eylem 11.00'de. pic.twitter.com/T57LLm4mFU

— Hikmet Adal (@HikmetAdal) November 30, 2021

'It has gone down in history as a disgrace'

The TGS executives and members as well as the employees of Cumhuriyet newspaper met in front of the building at 11 am. The dismissed journalists were also supported by their colleagues from other news outlets. On behalf of the newspaper employees, Serkan Ozan, the Editorial Coordinator of the daily, read out the statement for the press.

Serkan Ozan noted that the recent dismissals from the daily have gone down in the history of Cumhuriyet newspaper as a "disgrace". As the "architects" of this disgrace, Ozan pointed to Cumhuriyet Foundation Chair Alev Coşkun, Secretary General Işık Kansu and appointed members of the company's executive board Osman Özer and Adnan Arslan.

Recalling what happened at Cumhuriyet over the past month, Ozan said, "At the meeting of the Cumhuriyet Foundation held on November 16, 2021, it was agreed that at least 15 people would be dismissed and Editor-in-Chief Aykut Küçükkaya offer suggestions about it."

Ozan noted that Küçükkaya, together with the editorial team and department heads, expressed their reservations about the decision and decided to make constructive suggestions so that no one would be dismissed.

"However, turning a deaf ear to the employees' voices and not waiting for the suggestions to be offered, the executive board of the company consisting of Alev Coşkun, Adnan Arslan and Osman Özer took our eight colleagues apart from Cumhuriyet in a decision which does not comply with the principles of Cumhuriyet," protested Ozan, reading the joint statement.

"With this decision, the will of the Steering Committee, which has been authorized by the Cumhuriyet Foundation as the sole power to make decisions about the newspaper, and the will of the Editor-in-Chief have been trampled upon," Cumhuriyet's Serkan Ozan added further.

'We know who carry out these operations'

In their joint statement, as read out by Serkan Ozan, journalists stressed that they do not accept the argument that journalists were dismissed due to "economic reasons." The statement read:

"This is a blow dealt to the Cumhuriyet's understanding of journalism and an operation against its line of publication. We know by whom these operations are being carried out... We are aware of both the danger and the attempted interference with the publication policy of the most important newspaper of Turkey, which has been on the threshold of an election.

We call on Alev Coşkun, Işık Kansu, Adnan Arslan and Osman Özer, who do not have the ability to manage the Cumhuriyet, the most established and effective newspaper of Turkey, or hold its principles, to urgently resign from office.

What happened?

A day before this protest, on November 29, Cumhuriyet newspaper dismissed photojournalist Vedat Arık, copy editing department head Rüya Özalkan, sunday supplement editor Hilal Köse, sports department head Sami Gürel, reporter Tuğba Özer, managing editor Olcay Büyüktaş, reporter Ece Piroğlu and one other employee from the archive department.

Two months ago, on October 1, women's news editor Kübra Köklü, Esra Alus from the economy department and Altan Yağcı, İlker Güneş Doğan and Dilek Kılıç from cumhuriyet.com.tr were dismissed.

Medya Koridoru news website has recently reported that at the foundation meeting in mid-November, Cumhuriyet Foundation Chair Alev Coşkun decided on a job cut and, as the reason for this decision, he referred to the increasing US dollar exchange rate in Turkey, the falling circulation numbers and the expected loss of 600 thousand liras at the end of the year.

As part of austerity measures, it is rumoured that Cumhuriyet's number of pages will also be reduced to 14 and its price will be increased.

(HA/SD)