Lambsdorff Expresses Concern Over Raid On Independent Media Group

Members of the European Parliament (EP) as well as heads of political parties in Europe have joined the chorus in criticizing the recent raids on media outlets that are critical of the government in Turkey, with EP Vice President Alexander Graf Lambsdorff saying he condemns every act of intimidation act against journalists.

In his remarks to Today's Zaman, the EP's senior member said the dire threat against freedom of the press in Turkey is a worrying development.

“Practicing independent journalism, especially before the [Nov.1 snap] election, is a fundamental right within democracy. We strongly condemn every act of intimidation against journalists,” said Lambsdorff, who is also Turkey rapporteur for the ALDE Group.

Auditors accompanied by a police escort conducted a raid on the offices of Koza İpek Holding in Ankara on Tuesday morning, while simultaneous raids on subsidiaries of the group were carried out elsewhere.

The dailies Bugün and Millet, TV stations Bugün TV and Kanaltürk and the website BGNNews.com are all subsidiaries of the Koza İpek media group.
Raids happening because gov't afraid of free elections, says Özdemir


Cem Özdemir, the co-chair of the Green Party in Germany, also criticized the raids against Koza İpek Holding, underlining that the “Turkish government is choosing this method because it is scared of democratic elections.”

Speaking to the Cihan news agency in Germany, Özdemir said the raid against Koza İpek Holding is aimed at intimidating other media outlets.

Calling on Turkish journalists to stand together in the face of government-led raids, Özdemir said this operation is the first step and that other media outlets critical of the government will also be targeted such as the Zaman and Hürriyet dailies.

“I believe that journalists inside and outside of Turkey must stand together, because today it is that newspaper and tomorrow it will be another one,” he said.

“I think the polls are not coming how they [AK Party] want. Instead of changing themselves, they are changing the methods [and conducting raids]” he said, adding that the raids are damaging Turkey's international reputation immensely.

Özdemir recently told the Turkish press, “A Turkey in which operations are conducted against newspapers cannot get anywhere, let alone into the European Union."

Underlining that there will be no news outlets in the future that do not possess the same view as the government, Özdemir said, “This operation is only the beginning.” (Cihan/Today's Zaman)