Turkey: Police Raid Offices of Newsweekly That Revealed Coup Plans

[Yoshie Furuhashi <critical.montages@xxxxxxxxx>]

<http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=108382>
Police raid offices of newsweekly that revealed coup plans

The building that houses the offices of Nokta newsweekly, which
recently uncovered a plan by former generals to bring down the Turkish
government, were raided by the police on Friday, just one hour after a
visit by correspondents from Today's Zaman for an interview that can
be found on the inside pages.

Editor in Chief of Nokta newsweekly Alper Görmüş held a press meeting
after the police raid.

Last week Nokta ran an article based on what it said were excerpts
from the diary of former Navy Commander Adm. Özden Örnek. The diary
detailed plans of senior military officers to stage a coup to remove
the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government led by Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Friday's raid comes just one day after Chief of General Staff Gen.
Yaşar Büyükanıt said there were no records of the alleged coup plans
in military archives. During Friday's raid the police gathered all
staff at the magazine in the meeting room and confiscated all desktop
and laptop computers in the office, located in the İncirli area of
İstanbul's Bakırköy district, Nokta correspondent Ahmet Şık said in a
statement he made shortly after the police arrived at the building.
"What we wrote scared some people, I suppose. We haven't written
anything that is untrue," he said.

Nokta Editor in Chief Alper Görmüş, who spoke to the press about two
hours after being questioned, said the warrant referred to all news
stories that have ever been prepared by Nokta as well as stories that
the magazine is currently working on.

"The warrant was about the cover story in our 23rd issue," Görmüş told
the reporters, saying that the article in question analyzed possible
military influence in certain public movements that appear to be
civilian on the surface. He also told reporters that the police could
possibly confiscate the controversial diaries.

Speaking to reporters from other press agencies in front of Nokta's
office as the police were continuing interrogation and search
activities inside, magazine correspondent Şık said a large number of
policemen, including officers from the financial police, were talking
to Nokta owner Ayhan Durgun and Görmüş. "They told us they had a
search warrant from the Bakırköy Prosecutor's Office."

Şık said the police gathered all had warned the staff not to contact
anyone on the telephone or inform others about what was going on
inside the building. Şık said he supposed the police were looking to
find the 2,000-page electronic chronicles written by the former
admiral.

Reports arriving later confirmed that the search warrant was granted
by the prosecutor's office in Istanbul's Bakırköy district acting on
behalf of the military prosecutor's office. The Bakırköy prosecutor's
office is currently leading the only investigation on the case, acting
on a complaint filed by the lawyers of alleged diary keeper Adm.
Örnek.

In other words, it is investigating Nokta magazine and not the
plotters. The raid was carried out by officers from the Bakırköy
District Police Department, officials said. The raid came just one day
after Gen. Büyükanıt said the military archives had no trace of a
record suggesting that generals planned to overthrow the government at
some point.

Former Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Özkök, speaking to the press
earlier this week, neither confirmed nor denied that senior officers
of the armed forces had discussed staging a military coup, something
that convinced many skeptics of the plausibility of the diary
allegations.

Although he did not confirm having information about the coup plans,
he did not deny it, either. In addition he said the people making the
claims had to be respected.

Reactions to the police raid from fellow members of the press and
associations kept coming Friday afternoon. Press Council Chairman
Oktay Ekşi said, "The police raid into Nokta magazine on a warrant
said to be issued by the military prosecutor's office is thought
provoking for anyone who knows the realities of this country."

Ekşi said the way the raid was carried out raised doubts as to its
legality and whether its real purpose was to scare Nokta off.

The Turkey Journalists Association (TGC) also released a statement
condemning the raid, saying it was against the country's press laws.

Contemporary Journalists' Association (ÇGD) President Ahmet Abakay
condemned the police raid, saying, "This attitude is a new form of
trampling underfoot freedom of thought and expression, which are
already under pressure."

A statement issued by the deputy chairman of the Freedom and
Solidarity Party (ÖDP) said the raid was "unacceptable" in view of
freedom of thought and freedom of the press. The statement also said
prosecutors had to look into allegations about generals supporting a
military takeover against the AK Party government.

Journalist Oral Çalışlar described the raid as an "extreme blow" dealt
to freedom of the press. Journalist Mehmet Altan said the police raid
was a "scandal" and commented, "This is most certainly not a portrait
of what one would describe as a democracy."

--
Yoshie