Deputy PM Says Claim Of Possible Raid On 150 Journalists 'Serious'

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç responded on Thursday night to a claim that there would be a police raid against 150 journalists, saying that the claim is serious and that he hopes it is not correct.

When asked about the controversial claim, which was announced by Twitter user and whistleblower Fuat Avni, Arınç said during budget talks at Parliament: "This is serious and we need to consider it. I found the tweet to be a bit dangerous, as well. I hope that this does not turn out to be real or at least that it [does not occur at] this scale."

According to Arınç, the claim should be taken seriously, especially since Avni has provided specific details, like the names of the journalists who the police are planning to detain. The deputy prime minister added: "Such [things] are far from reality. But we [the government] cannot know whether such an operation will take place in three or five days or for what reason it would be launched. We cannot consider everything written on Twitter to be real. Previous tweets posted by this person have largely included defamatory statements, hate and animosity."

Avni claimed that the government is getting ready for a sweeping raid to detain at least 150 journalists, including the editors-in-chief of the Zaman and Today's Zaman dailies, Ekrem Dumanlı and Bülent Keneş, respectively,

Hundreds of readers gathered on Thursday at the headquarters of the Feza Media Holding, which includes the Zaman daily building, to protest a possible operation against Hizmet-affiliated journalists, objecting to what they claim to be the government's increasingly authoritarian practices to silence outspoken media.

Dumanlı commented on the operation claim late on Thursday in an address to the crowd that had gathered outside his media outlet, saying: "A statesman should boldly say, 'We are conducting an operation' or 'Do not believe this, because it is not true.' Is there a solid crime being committed [by the daily]? They don't have an answer to this. You are not here today for only the Zaman daily but also for the freedom of all media."(Cihan/Today's Zaman)

SHOTLIST
TURKEY, ANKARA, 11 DEC 2014
Parliament TV footages

VAR of Deputy PM Arınç's remarks at the Parliament

DURATION: 02:04