Newspaper Sale Block Allegations in Parliament

CHP Istanbul province deputies Sezgin Tanrıkulu and Kadir Öğüt brought allegations about newspaper sale blocks for Evrensel, Sözcü, Yurt and Aydınlık in Istanbul’s subway stations to Turkey’s parliament. 

The aforementioned deputies submitted separate official inquiries to PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the allegations that text messages have been sent to Smart Cube kiosks on January 3 ordering that Evrensel, Sözcü, Yurt and Aydınlık newspapers should not be put on the racks. 

“Don’t put Evrensel, Sözcü, Yurt and Aydınlık newspapers on the news racks and if anyone asks about these newspapers, just tell that you don’t have any left. Return the remaining issues in the evening,” the text message allegedly said. 

Smart Cube, on the other hand, released a statement on Facebook, saying that 28 of their regular products suffered from a barcode problem due to renovations and back-ups in their system and this problem also affected the aforementioned newspapers. 

“We have resolved the issue,” the statement said. (EA/BM)