As Turkey heads toward a referendum for the constitutional amendment package which will allow the country's parliamentary system to shift to a presidential one, a controversial article published by the Turkish daily, Hürriyet, on Feb. 25 caused public outcry and was slammed by government officials. According to the Turkish article titled, whose headline translates to "Headquarters disturbed," the General Staff was disturbed. Hürriyet's report, based on "anonymous" military sources, hinted that the military intervention occurred because military officers were uneasy with the practices of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, especially in the context of the latest reform that lifted a ban on female officers from wearing headscarves in the armed forces.Hürriyet's headline, published just days before the anniversary of the military's ultimatum on Feb. 28, 1997, called this the most modern military coup in Turkish history, reminiscent of their previous headline that openly supported military intervention in the past decade, thus leading political figures to harshly criticize Hürriyet daily for its report.Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, speaking in Ankara on Sunday, called the headlines an effort to intimidate the government, attributing such efforts to a "perception management operation.""Prior to Feb. 28, the great newspapers used these headlines as a blame game to set down the governments that elected by the nation. Now, they are trying to employ similar tactics," the prime minister asserted.In addition, National Defense Minister Fikri Işık described the daily's report as part of efforts to pull the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) into politics, saying, "Unfortunately, we are seeing tremendously sad efforts to pull the TSK into politics but these efforts will remain fruitless.""The era of getting results by intimidating the Turkish government with news headlines ended years ago. However, there are still some who have rekindled their old habits in their dream of establishing an old Turkey," Bozdağ said via his Twitter account on Feb. 26.Meanwhile, the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on Monday launched an investigation into Hürriyet daily for the report. Turkish media outlets reported that the investigation against the daily was triggered by a criminal complaint from an academic at İstanbul University, Mehmet Hakan Sağlam. In his complaint, the academic claimed that the news report suggests that the junta group within the TSK is still active, asserting that they should be found and punished on charges of attempting to destroy the Turkish government by the use of force.President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım also expressed their discomfort regarding the Hürriyet daily's report that hinted at a military intervention. Prime Minister Yıldırım held an announced meeting with Chief of General Staff Gen. Akar on Monday afternoon. During the one-hour meeting at the Prime Ministry in the Turkish capital Ankara, Yıldırım and Akar shared their concerns. Later on Monday evening, Akar and Defense Minister Fikri Işık were received by President Erdoğan in Istanbul, where Erdoğan reportedly expressed his discomfort regarding anonymous military sources hinting at a military intervention.Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Government Spokesperson Numan Kurtulmuş said yesterday after the Cabinet meeting in Ankara that the aims to bring the military into politics will not succeed. "Turkish Armed Forces will not be pulled into politics," he said.In recent history, Hürriyet daily and the Doğan media group have published many headlines that provide examples of efforts to intimidate the government through headlines. For instance, in May 2015 President Erdoğan slammed a headline in the Hürriyet daily, the flagship newspaper of the Doğan media group, for announcing Mohamed Morsi's death sentence along with picture of Erdoğan.Hürriyet published a headline on its news website on May 16, 2015 which read, "He was chosen with 52 percent. They sentenced him to death," along with a picture of Erdoğan, who is Turkey's first publicly elected president and won 52 percent of the vote in the election. A conflict between Erdoğan and the Doğan media group has been ongoing for several years, since the beginning of Erdoğan's political career.Another headliner of the Hürriyet also said, "He cannot even be a village headman," after a Turkish court sentenced Erdoğan to prison in 1998 on charges that he "incited the public to hatred and animosity" after reciting a modified version of a famous poem.Another Hürriyet headline dated Feb. 10, 2008 which reads, "411 Hands Raised for Chaos," also raised criticism for referring to the passing of a law in the Turkish Parliament, led by then-Prime Minister Erdoğan, and lifting the ban on headscarves in universities, seen as a major issue by a large segment of Turkish society.Following the passing of that law, a state prosecutor pursued the closure of the AK Party on March 18, 2008, on the charge that the party violated the principle of the "separation of religion and state in Turkey," and the closure request failed to be pass by only one vote from the 11 Supreme Court judges.