'Know your place, Mr. Minister': Journalists lash out at Soylu after he insulted a columnist

Saygı Öztürk and Süleyman Soylu

Click to read the article in Turkish

Saygı Öztürk, a columnist for daily Sözcü, has been targeted by Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu after he wrote about the rise of a ruling party MP's husband in the bureaucracy.

Quoting Söczü's tweet about the article, Soylu wrote, "I am doing my human duty. This article of Saygı Öztürk is dishonorable."

He also called the columnist "an enemy of honor" and "a murderer of dignity."

İnsanlık görevimi yapıyorum
Saygı Öztürk’ün bu yazısı namussuzluktur
Bahar Hanım ahlaklı, faziletli bir kadındır
Ali Beye minnettarız Trabzon turizmini ayağa kaldırdı
Bugünden sonra bu namus düşmanını kim muhatap alırsa, gözümde aynı namussuzluğun ortağıdır, haysiyet celladıdır https://t.co/9y0S1BtZY3

— Süleyman Soylu (@suleymansoylu) June 18, 2020

Öztürk's article was about Ali Ayvazoğlu, the husband of Justice and Development Party (AKP) MP Bahar Ayvazoğlu.

Employed as a municipal worker in Trabzon city, Ali Ayvazoğlu was promoted to principal clerk in 2014, after marrying Bahar Ayvazoğlu, the article said.

As Bahar Ayvazoğlu was elected an MP from the AKP in 2015, her husband was first appointed as Trabzon's Director of Culture and Tourism and then to the same position for Ankara, the capital.

In his tweet, Minister Soylu, whose hometown is Trabzon as well, praised Ayvazoğlu's contribution to the city's tourism.

"Know your place"

Several journalists and professional organizations have reacted to the minister on Twitter.

The Journalists' Union of Turkey (TGS), quoting Soylu's tweet, said, "You can't insult a journalist just because you didn't like a report, Mr. Soylu. Know your place."

The TGS's Ankara branch also denounced Soylu, calling on him to apologize.

Media ombudsperson Faruk Bildirici tweeted, "Does the Interior Minister have the freedom to insult journalists? After Müyesser Yıldız, Soylu is now pouring out insults at Saygı Öztürk."

Haber hoşunuza gitmedi diye gazeteciye hakaret edemezsiniz Sn. Soylu. Haddinizi bilin. https://t.co/KzSinljS36

— Gazeteciler Sendikası (@TGS_org_tr) June 18, 2020

Erol Önderoğlu, the Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) representative for Turkey, denounced Soylu's remarks, saying it is "deeply troubling" that the minister is "insulting a journalist and legitimizing it as a human duty."

Mehmet Bekaroğlu, a MP from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), said, "A journalist wrote the claims about Trabzon. If it is false, say it is false, if necessary, go to the court. This minister is swearing! If a minister does this, what does a citizen do?" (AS/VK)