Magazine Critical of the Army Closed

Weekly newsmagazine Nokta is closed with an unexpected decision by its owner following two consecutive articles critical of the Turkish army. Editor-in-chief Görmüş noted that amounting pressure from the General Staff led to this end.

Erol Önderoğlu

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)

Origin

BÄ°A News Center

Erol Önderoğlu

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A graduate of the French Language and Literature Department at İstanbul University. He has served as the Turkey representative for the international organization Reporters Without...

A graduate of the French Language and Literature Department at İstanbul University. He has served as the Turkey representative for the international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), where he began as a reporter in 1996. Since 1999, he has worked at bianet, a project of the IPS Communication Foundation, as the coordinator of the Legal Support Desk, editor for freedom of expression, and editor-in-chief. He has authored more than 4,800 signed news articles and opinion pieces. He has also written for Bizim Gazete and the journal Güncel Hukuk. He currently prepares the Media Monitoring Reports at bianet.