Turkey shuts down media institutions linked to Gülenist terror group

Through a statutory decree issued on late Wednesday, media institutions related with the Gülenist Terror Organization (FETÖ) were shut down.

The closure of three news agencies, 16 television stations, 23 radio stations, 45 newspapers, 15 magazines and 29 publishers were listed in the decree published online by Turkey's official gazette. Most of these media institutions operating on nationwide scale were already assigned with trustees in prior investigations regarding FETÖ.

Cihan, its successor Muhabir and broadcaster Samanyolu's Sem news agencies were shut down.

Out of 45 newspapers, nine — Bugün, Özgür Düşünce, Meydan, Millet, Zaman, Today's Zaman, Yarına Bakış and Yeni Hayat — were being published nationwide, while the rest were regional newspapers. Upon court orders, trustees were assigned to Millet, Bugün, Zaman and Today's Zaman dailies in late 2015 and early 2016. Meydan, Özgür Düşünce, Yarına Bakış and Yeni Hayat dailies, which were all launched after trusteeship decisions, were widely regarded as the continuation of Gülen-linked newspapers.

Taraf, which had a more politically liberal outlook than the rest of Gülen-linked media, played a crucial role in the Ergenekon and Sledgehammer coup plot cases launched into the Turkish military by publishing evidence later used by prosecution, which all turned out to be fake or illegally obtained. As many military officers were detained or laid off during the trial process, these cases provided the FETÖ the opportunity to assign military officers linked to the terrorist group, most of whom are being accused of complicity with the coup.

The state of emergency, which was declared on July 20 and approved by the Parliament on July 21, allows the government to enact statutory decrees, which are later presented to Parliament for approval.

Authorities issued arrest warrants for 42 journalists earlier this week and on Wednesday issued 47 more for former staff of the once pro-Gülen Zaman newspaper.