Turkish-Cypriot journalist, his newspaper file suit against Turkey’s Erdoğan

Şener Levent and the Turkish Cypriot publishing company Afrika have filed a lawsuit against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, for instigating attacks on the newspaper on January 22, 2018, according to a report by Cyprus Mail.

The Afrika newspaper’s front page on Saturday led with the title “We have taken Tayyip Erdoğan to court”, and showed images of the suits filed to the ‘district court’ in the north Cyprus. Afrika newspaper’s front page also included images of the protestors outside their offices on January 22, showing people making the symbol of the Turkish ultranationalist movement ‘Grey Wolves’ and the symbol of the ‘Rabia’, a gesture used to show support for the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Cyprus Mail wrote that this is the first time a Turkish Cypriot media group is suing a Turkish politician, which follows a case opened against the newspaper in Ankara for the first time, regarding Afrika’s January 21 front page which ran with the title “Yet another invasion by Turkey”, in relation to the Turkish military operation in Syria’s Afrin.

The newspaper wrote in their story that in the town of Bursa on January 21 at an AKP women’s party conference, Erdoğan had called the paper “lousy” and said they had run with an unethical title that day. He called on “his brothers” in the north Cyprus to take a stand, the newspaper said.

“They say that the Turkish army, after Cyprus, has conducted a new invasion. How unethical, how obscene is that,” Erdoğan said then.

The Afrika newspaper wrote that after that speech by Erdoğan, on January 22, “fanatics” attacked the newspaper with rocks and crowbars attempting to lynch the staff.

“I am your accuser… you are the accused, my sir… you are a defendant in Cyprus…You will be called to give an answer! You are guilty! You have committed a big crime! You are the instigator!  You instigated them to lynch us, to murder us! Do you see that ruthless, raging mob?  Do you see the man holding the large rock in his hand,” was the lead of the article by Şener Levent in Afrika on Saturday.

The newspaper goes on to say that the protestors are Erdoğan’s “angry children” who he told to hit back.  Levent said that the protestors do whatever Erdoğan tells them.

Regarding the suit against Levent in Ankara, the newspaper’s head said: “You filed a suit against me in Ankara… I accept it… Now it’s your turn to come to our courts… I would come to your courts… If a court existed.”

Journalist Levent added that the issue will not remain only with the council and that the case will move forward “otherwise this island [Cyprus] will not forgive us.”

Turkey is ranked 157th among 180 countries in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). If Turkey falls two more places, it will make it to the list of countries on the blacklist, which have the poorest record in press freedom.

Turkey is the biggest jailer of journalists in the world. The most recent figures documented by SCF show that 237 journalists and media workers were in jail as of August 15, 2018, most in pretrial detention. Of those in prison 169 were under arrest pending trial while only 68 journalists have been convicted and are serving their time. Detention warrants are outstanding for 145 journalists who are living in exile or remain at large in Turkey.

Detaining tens of thousands of people over alleged links to the Gülen movement, the government also closed down some 200 media outlets, including Kurdish news agencies and newspapers, after a coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016.

The post Turkish-Cypriot journalist, his newspaper file suit against Turkey’s Erdoğan appeared first on Stockholm Center for Freedom.

from Stockholm Center for Freedom https://stockholmcf.org/turkish-cypriot-journalist-his-newspaper-file-suit-against-turkeys-erdogan/