Police raided Koza İpek Holding in the early hours of Tuesday morning. A large number of police teams arrived at around 8.a.m. at building of Koza İpek Holding board of directors in Yeni Mahalle district of Ankara at around.
Bugün Daily and Kanaltürk and Bugün TV channels operate within Koza İpek Holding, whose affiliation is known to Gülen Congregation and that carries on business in fields of such as energy and mining.
Justification: Financing terror
It is stated that teams with Ankara Police Department Organized Crime Control Bureau carried out a search by prosecution mandate in Akın İpek’s house in Ankara as well.
The justification of the operation is “Promoting and financing terror,” CNN Türk reports.
Akın İpek: My organization is clean
As Cihan News Agency reported, Board Chairman of Koza İpek Holding, Akın İpek stated “I don’t haven even traffic offense and my organization is entirely clean.
“I’ve heard that a raid was conducted to my organization and home, they went down to even my children’s rooms. I’ve lived my whole life attentively, there is no need to do all these things, don’t bring me and my organization under suspicion, ask me whatever you want and I’ll answer to them.”
Reactions against the raid
Minister of EU, Ali Haydar Kanca, Turkey’s Union of Journalists (TGS), President of Press Council, Pınar Türenç, a number of political party leaders and journalists have shown reaction against the raid.
Politicians
Ali Haydar Konca (Minister of EU): Obstacles before press freedom should be removed. We don’t approve of the operations against media.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (Republican People’s Party Leader): It is not possible to talk about democracy in a country in which media is subjected to censor. I am calling on the government to be more careful and not bring shame on us in the eyes of world public.
Devlet Bahçeli (Nationalist Movement Party Leader): Some concerning actions are being taken towards investment groups as there is growing pressure on media. It is impossible to approve it.
Durmuş Yılmaz (MHP Deputy, former president of Central Bank): Seizing press and investment puts Turkey in a difficult situation in G-20. Such attempts that will block future investments must be avoided.
Mahmut Tanal (CHP İstanbul Deputy): Turkey is the first country in the world that links press members with terror. Today the operation against Koza is in fact an operation against employment which trundlers Turkey to poverty.
Press organization
Pınar Türenç (President of Press Council): Charging media organs with promoting terror is unacceptable. I consider it as an effort to intimidate media in order to force them to make news in accordance with a certain political agenda ahead of upcoming elections.
Turkey’s Union of Journalists: The raid against Koza-İpek group is an operation of defiance and censorship. We call all our members to react against that.
Turkey’s Association of Journalists: Journalism and journalists will not be able to be obstructed by operations and pointing them as targets.
Journalists
Can Dündar (Cumhuriyet daily Chief Editor): Police raided Bugün daily. Mark the headline of the newspaper today!: “Shipment of equipment used in weapon making to ISIS on Akçakale border documented.”
Kazım Güleçyüz (Yeni Asya Editor-in-Chief): The government appealing to intimidating dissident media is a sign of it giving up its hopes on democratic election. Censorship on dissident media carries Turkey to a further and more violent dictatorship, not to a more advanced stage. (AS/TK)
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