Arrest warrants have been issued for 42 journalists in Turkey as authorities continue a crackdown in the wake of the failed coup earlier this month, private broadcaster NTV reported.
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When the cover was tweeted ahead of its publication, protestors gathered at the magazine’s offices, saying, “don’t you know what happened to Charlie Hebdo?” said CNN’s Ian Lee, a reference to the 2015 gun attacks on the French satirists’ office, which killed 11 journalists.
Erdogan’s government had been under fire even before the coup for restricting press freedoms in Turkey, accusations the authorities strongly deny. All groups in the legislature denounced the coup attempt, though some argued that the state of emergency wasn’t necessary given that the government had initiated the purge without it.
Their families say that just before the coup the children were invited to a school cocktail party but were made to parade with guns, dress in army uniforms and guard their campus.
Meanwhile, a high council overseeing the judiciary appointed 342 new judges to two Turkish high courts, days after a judiciary reform – adopted before the attempted coup – came into effect. “The Turkish secret services might knew of the coup and decide to let it happen so that they could profit from it somehow”, he said.
More than 13,000 people, including almost 9,000 soldiers, 2,100 judges and prosecutors and 1,485 police, have been detained in Turkey’s post-rebellion crackdown, according to the president.
Turkey triggered a state of emergency after the military coup attempt that left the country in shock.
Akar, the chief of military staff, was held hostage by the coup-plotters and taken to air base after he refused to join the revolt.
It is expected to be ratified by parliament, where his party holds the majority.
It has now been ten days since the attempted coup in Turkey and the ensuing witch-hunt of anyone who might have been involved with the coup is continuing unabated.
“In a region full of instability and violence Turkey needs more friends”, the expert said.
The government says the stringent measures are needed to clear out the influence of Gulen from Turkey’s institutions, claiming that he has created a “parallel state” inside Turkey.
More than 44,000 employees of state institutions were suspended amid a nationwide probe into the coup attempt for suspected links to Gulen.
The Turkish leader is also to receive their suggestions, a presidential source said on Sunday.
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Detained Turkish soldiers who allegedly took part in a military coup arrive in a bus at the courthouse in Istanbul on July 20, 2016.
