Turkish authorities to shut down dozens of media outlets

Journalist gather outside court to support their colleague journalist Bulent Mumay, who was detained in connection with the investigation launched into the failed coup attempt. Photo / AP

Turkey's government has ordered the closure of dozens of media outlets - including news agencies, television channels, radio stations and newspapers - as part of its widespread crackdown in the wake of a failed coup attempt on July 15.

The decree from Turkey's cabinet of ministers was published Thursday in the country's Official Gazette. A state of emergency enacted after the coup attempt allows Turkey's executive to issue decrees, which are then sent to parliament for approval.

Earlier, prosecutors issued detention orders for nearly 50 journalists and media figures tied to the Zaman newspaper, which was shut down at the request of local prosecutors in March. Forty-two journalists and columnists from various media outlets were also ordered detained Tuesday.

Zaman, which was Turkey's largest daily, was believed to be tied to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The president and his supporters have blamed Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States, for orchestrating the coup, which saw more than 200 people killed.

A band of rogue military officers seized combat aircraft, blocked bridges and fired on unarmed protesters demonstrating against the takeover. The government survived the violent putsch attempt but has since launched a devastating purge of Turkey's security institutions and bureaucracy.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch warned this week that the detention or suspension of thousands of bureaucrats, judges, journalists and others is "an unvarnished move for an arbitrary, mass and permanent purge of the civil service."

On the detention of scores of journalists, Amnesty International's deputy director for Europe, Gauri van Gulik, said Turkey's government "is failing to make a distinction between criminal acts and legitimate criticism."

"Rather than stifling press freedom and intimidating journalists into silence, it is vital that Turkish authorities allow the media to do their work," she said, "and end this draconian clampdown on freedom of expression."

The decree Thursday targeted three news agencies, 16 television channels, 23 radio stations and 45 newspapers. It also discharged more than 2,400 military personnel for "complicity in the attempted coup," a senior Turkish official said.

The dismissed personnel included 1,200 commissioned officers from the navy, air and land forces. The Turkish armed forces said that 8,651 personnel - or 1.5 percent of the military - participated in the abortive coup and that the rebel faction used 35 planes, 37 helicopters, 74 tanks and three ships during the operation.

The assault took place over about 12 hours between the night of July 15 and morning of July 16, when the rogue soldiers surrendered to citizens and police who had fought back against the coup. Pro-coup pilots had used combat aircraft to bomb Turkey's parliament and presidential palace. The country's top leaders, however, emerged unscathed.

Since then, authorities have embarked on a massive campaign to detain, arrest and suspend tens of thousands of government employees for alleged links to the plot. Turkey's opposition parties have condemned the coup but are also warning against further repression.

"Those who are innocent should not be thrown into the fire with those who are guilty," Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the head of the leftist Republican People's Party (CHP), told the Associated Press on Wednesday.