Erdogan must stop threatening journalists: RSF

Reporters Without Borders has called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to stop threatening journalists and meddling in the affairs of the country’s judiciary system.

On Monday, the world’s leading press advocacy body, known by its French acronym RSF, condemned Erdogan for openly threatening the opposition Cumhuriyet daily after it published a video purportedly showing trucks belonging to country’s intelligence agency carrying arms to the Takfiri militants in Syria.

“We call on the president to stop threatening the media and stop meddling in the judicial system, and we call on the Istanbul prosecutor’s office to immediately abandon its prosecutions,” said Johann Bihr, the head of the RSF Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk.

On May 31, Erdogan accused the daily’s editor-in-chief Can Dundar of “spying” and vowed that he “won’t get away with it.”

“The Turkish government’s Syria policy is an important topic that the Turkish public must be able to debate. The public has a right to know whether its government has delivered arms, and to whom. If the government now finds itself with its back to the wall, it cannot blame Cumhuriyet, which just did its job,” Bihr said.

On May 29, Cumhuriyet posted on its website a video, allegedly showing trucks belonging to Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) being inspected by security officers.

According to Cumhuriyet, the trucks were carrying around 1,000 mortar shells, hundreds of grenade launchers and more than 80,000 rounds of ammunition for light and heavy weapons.

Turkish media reported on the same day that Cumhuriyet’s publication prompted the government to immediately secure a gag order from a judge in order to contain the fallout from the scandal.

Earlier this month, Ankara detained four prosecutors, who had ordered the search of a Syrian-bound convoy of MIT trucks loaded with arms and ammunition in the southern provinces of Hatay and Adan near the Syrian border back in January 2014.

Can Dundar has responded to Erodgan’s rhetoric in a tweet, saying, “We are not civil servants but journalists. Our duty is not to hide the state’s dirty secrets but to call it to account in the name of people.”

'Bloodstained hands'

Meanwhile, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of Turkey’s opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) on Monday slammed Erdogan for openly threatening a journalist, saying the reaction shows the president’s weakness.

“For the very first time, a president is openly threatening a journalist because he exposed a lie. This shows Erdogan’s impotence. In fact, it is he who should apologize to people because he deceived and lied to them,” the CHP leader said.

He argued that the footage raised many questions “that need to be asked. From which country did these weapons come to Esenboga [Airport in Ankara]? How many times did these affairs happen?”

“Turkey will now be up against the wall in the international arena. The hands of both Erdogan and [Prime Minister Ahmet] Davutoglu are bloodstained,” he added.

Erdogan has censured the interception of MIT trucks as well as a string of leaks in the media, describing such moves as a plot by the supporters of his rival Fethullah Gülen, to undermine his government.

However, Gülen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the US since 1999, has denied any role. 

The Turkish government has on numerous occasions denied support for terrorist groups operating inside Syria since March 2011. However, the claims have been rejected by a host of reports.

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