Presenter and academic Deniz Ülke Arıboğan has been dismissed from her position at the state broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT). While no specific reason was cited, it is believed to be over a tweet where she voiced her support for democracy and press freedom.
“Democracy is a regime deserved by those who are worthy of it, by those who take a stand for it,” TRT presenter Deniz Ülke Arıboğan posted on Twitter Tuesday morning, “There can be no mention of democracy in an environment where the press is not free.” Report BGN
The tweet came at a time when auditors and police where engaged in a government-backed crackdown of a critical media group.
Early Tuesday morning teams from the Finance Ministry’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), complete with police escort and a 4-page search warrant in hand, raided İpek Media Group, Koza İpek Holding, İpek University, Kanal Türk and Chairman Akın İpek’s own home.
Turkish dailies Bugün and Millet, channels Bugün TV and Kanaltürk and English-language web portal BGNNews.com all belong to the İpek Media Group.
Deniz Ülke Arıboğan was the host of the program ‘Açı’ (Angle) on TRT Haber, the TRT’s 24-hour news service.
Three hours after her original pro-democracy tweet, she notified her followers that her employment at TRT had ended, “I have been let go from my job at the TRT program ‘Açı,’ which I have worked on for many years. I am proud of this new development!”
Tuesday’s media crackdown has provoked massive public outcry, with journalists, politicians, NGOs and international agencies all speaking out against the government-backed raid.
Government whistleblower and Twitter phenomenon Fuat Avni had forewarned of such an event in a series of tweets posted last week.
“Having seen that the November 1st elections will also result in a hung parliament, [President Erdoğan] sees silencing all critical voices as his only way out,” tweeted Avni, “He has understood that if he doesn’t silence the opposition media he won’t be able to secure the increase in votes he had hoped for by [stoking] terrorism.” He went on to refer to a raid against the İpek Media Group as “imminent.”
Fuat Avni has been a thorn in the side of President Erdoğan and the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) for nearly two years now, having revealed many of their top secret plans. In December 2014 Fuat Avni wrote about preparations for an operation against critical media outlets which came true. Zaman daily Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı and Samanyolu Broadcasting Group CEO Hidayet Karaca along with dozens of others were detained on December 14th.