Alwaght- Defiant Turkish government has taken control of another news agency ignoring criticism of its crackdown on opposition media.
This new move comes days after the seizure of the popular opposition newspaper Zaman. The news agency Cihan is reportedly affiliated to US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a critic Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On Monday it posted a statement on its website which said an Istanbul court would appoint an administrator to run it. The ruling was made on a request from prosecutors investigating Gulen, who is suspected by the Turkish government of plotting a coup.
The development came just days after the popular opposition newspaper Zaman was seized by the Turkish government in a similar way. Both the news agency and the newspaper are part of the Feza Gazetecilik media company.
Other media outlets and businesses affiliated with Gulen's movement were taken over last year as the investigation was underway.
The crackdown was condemned by rights groups and several Turkish politicians, although criticism was muted from European leaders, who were negotiating on Monday a deal with Turkey on handling the refugee flow into the EU.
Erdogan and Gulen used to be political allies, but became bitter foes in 2013, when police officials and prosecutors reportedly sympathetic to Gulen opened a corruption investigation into Erdogan's inner circle. The investigation was quashed, but resulted in a cabinet reshuffle and mass protests in Turkey.
The seizures are part of a two-pronged assault by Mr Erdogan’s government on supporters of Mr Gulen and on media outlets critical of government policies. Companies run by Gulen-affiliated businesspeople have been seized and their executives investigated for supporting the imam, who until 2013 was largely supportive of Mr. Erdogan.
