Turkey's Erdogan urges boycott of critical media

21/09/2008

ANKARA, Turkey -- Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is urging supporters of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to boycott media that criticise the government. The call Friday (September 19th) followed a recent conflict between Erdogan and the biggest media group in Turkey, Dogan, over Erdogan's alleged involvement in corruption. The government has rejected all charges. The Dogan media consortium controls almost half the print and broadcast media in Turkey.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Besir Atalay announced on Friday that he has ordered an investigation into the activity of the Turkish charity organisation Deniz Feneri, after a German court sentenced three of its members for fraud. The former head of the organisation, Mehmet Gurhan, 45, will spend almost six years in prison. Two other members, Mehmet Taskan and Firdevsi Ermis, were convicted of fraud and complicity, and received shorter sentences. According to the court in Frankfurt, between 2002 and 2007, the trio embezzled more than 14m euros from the charity organisation.

All three are believed to have close links to the ruling AKP. The court however found no evidence that the AKP benefited from the embezzlement. (Hurriyet - 20/09/08; Reuters, Anadolu news agency, UPI, Hurriyet, Sabah - 19/09/08)