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Turkish Police Raid Zaman Building, Detain Editor-In-Chief (VIDEO UPDATE)

14.12.2014 16:15

Turkey's anti-terrorism units raided headquarters of the country's top-selling newspaper Zaman on Sunday and detained its editor-in-chief amid protests by the newspaper staff and protesters.A group of police officials from İstanbul police anti-terrorism units arrived at the Zaman daily building in Yenibosna on Sunday morning and tried to enter the building amid slogans by protesters changing "free media cannot be silenced." The police officials were then allowed by the security to enter inside the building, but could not proceed further as heavy presence of protesters created a small stampede.

Turkey's anti-terrorism units raided headquarters of the country's top-selling newspaper Zaman on Sunday and detained its editor-in-chief amid protests by the newspaper staff and protesters.

A group of police officials from İstanbul police anti-terrorism units arrived at the Zaman daily building in Yenibosna on Sunday morning and tried to enter the building amid slogans by protesters changing "free media cannot be silenced." The police officials were then allowed by the security to enter inside the building, but could not proceed further as heavy presence of protesters created a small stampede. The Zaman daily live broadcast the entire drama while the Turkish media largely preferred to remain indifferent to the police operation.

The officials later returned the newspaper and detained Dumanlı while several TV networks live broadcast the detention process. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the newspaper to demonstrate against the arrest and chanted anti-government slogans.

Much-anticipated police raid to Zaman put the entire staff of the newspaper to stay overnight in the newspaper in a show of defiance as they vowed to stay firm in the face of government crackdown. Throughout the night, newspaper editors and reporters, including this newspaper's editor-in-chief Bülent Keneş, tweeted to their anxious followers who displayed a wave of support on the social media.

The first raid to Zaman daily was aimed at detaining Dumanlı, who was sitting in the administration floor. The officials said they could not "fulfill their task" because of the pressure and had to leave the building.

In a news conference following the attempted raid, Dumanlı said he was called to come down to see the police official, which he viewed as "nonsense." "I am sitting in my office and I invited him to come and detain me," Dumanlı told the media.

Dumanlı said the protesters reacted in a peaceful and democratic way by only chanting pro-freedom slogans and that the police officials faced no physical resistance. The Zaman editor-in-chief said it was the officials' "caprice" and he left with no reason.

A Twitter user known by the pseudonym Fuat Avni, who has revealed many government-backed police operations to the public, claimed on Saturday that a major government-backed police operation targeting many journalists would kick off on Sunday.

Avni said on Saturday night that the raids, which were originally planned to take place early on Friday morning but were postponed after he revealed the secret plans, would be carried out beginning on Sunday.

The whistleblower tweeted that due to strong reactions to the initial operation planned to be carried out on Friday, the police limited the list of journalists to be detained. He said liberal and main stream journalists will not be targeted “for now.”

Among the journalists to be detained are Keneş, Taraf daily and Today’s Zaman columnist Emre Uslu, Taraf daily reporter Mehmet Baransu and Bugün daily columnist Nuh Gönültaş.

Karaca went to İstanbul police department to surrender early on Sunday. He was later taken under custody and sent for health screening.

The claim of mass detentions of some 400 people, including 150 journalists, was first raised on Thursday afternoon by Avni, who says he is among President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's inner circle. He 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.

Turkish media reports noted that arrest warrants were issued for at least 32 people, including Dumanlı and Karaca, by İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor.

As the operation started on early Sunday, hundreds of people gathered outside Samanyolu TV network as well as the Zaman headquarters. As part of the investigation, producer of Samanyolu's Tek Türkiye TV series Ali Kara and one of its actors were detained in İstanbul.

In addition, producers of Samanyolu's Sungurlar TV series Salih Asan and Engin Koç were taken into custody in central Turkish province of Eskişehir. After brief interrogation in Eskişehir, Asan and Koç were sent to İstanbul.(Cihan/Today's Zaman)

SHOTLIST
TURKEY, ISTANBUL, 14 DEC 2014

Zaman daily employees shout slogans
Ekrem Dumanlı appear among police officers and crowd
Crowd applaud
Former AK Party Interior Minister Idris Naim Şahin walks next to Dumanlı

DURATION: 02:37



 
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