A screenshot taken from whistleblower fuatavni’s Twitter account. (Photo: Today’s Zaman)
A week before the country’s June 7 parliamentary elections, Turkey‘s prominent whistleblower Fuat Avni has claimed that there is soon to be a mass detention of journalists and members of the judiciary as part of government efforts to muzzle media outlets which are free, independent and critical.
The whistleblower, known on Twitter by the pseudonym Fuat Avni, said some 200 people will be detained in a major sweep that has been ordered by the embattled President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is reportedly furious over the publication by the Cumhuriyet daily of photos of weapons being carried to radical groups in Syria by trucks run by Turkey’s intelligence organization.
Avni said Erdoğan has become very concerned over a possible trial in the International Criminal Court for sending arms to Syrian groups, which allegedly included al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Turkey’s president appears to want to divert public attention by launching the en masse detention of journalists, which is supposed to include the chief editor of Cumhuriyet, Can Dündar.
Erdoğan is also reportedly concerned that after the elections, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) may not secure enough seats to establish a single party government, and therefore a witch hunt he has been pursuing since corruption scandals in 2013 may be interrupted.
According to Fuat Avni, the government will detain scores of journalists critical to the government, including Ekrem Dumanlı, the editor-in chief of Zaman, the country’s largest circulated national daily; Bülent Keneş, the editor-in-chief of Today’s Zaman; Kerim Balcı, the editor-in-chief of Turkish Review, a bimonthly news magazine; Celil Sağır, the managing editor of Today’s Zaman; Faruk Mercan, the Ankara representative of Bugün TV; Adem Yavuz Arslan, the Washington bureau chief for the Bugün newspaper; Nazlı Ilıcak, a veteran columnist at Bugün; Yasemin Çongar, former editor of Taraf daily; Ahmet Altan, former editor-in-chief of Taraf, Emre Uslu, columnist at Today’s Zaman, and finally Cumhuriyet’s Can Dündar.
The politically-motivated investigations included not only journalists but also the corporate entities of Zaman, Samanyolu and Bugün media outlets.
Police chiefs and members of the judiciary who were involved in landmark cases that exposed wrongdoings in the government and the military are also targeted in the sweep, Avni claimed.
Avni has revealed many government-backed police operations to the public in the past, and though late at times, all the claims have turned out to be true.
He also said Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is opposed to any mass detentions taking place so soon before the elections, fearing a backlash from voters.