Turkish journalists critical of their government are being called “sub-contractors of the Israeli-controlled international media.”

Judeosphere
16 June '10

The Turkish newspaper Hürriyet published photos that support Israel’s account of events after commandos boarded the Turkish flotilla ship Mavi Marmara.

Der Spiegel reports:

Hürriyet belongs to the media group of entrepreneur Aydin Dogan which has been critical of the government in the past. Initially, Dogan’s newspapers had criticized the Israeli raid just like Turkey’s pro-government papers. But since then they have been warning against excessive Israel bashing and against the prime minister’s increasingly authoritarian style of government.

“I am afraid,” wrote columnist Nuray Mert, “not just because emotions have supplanted reason in foreign policy but because one is immediately accused of Zionism and silenced whenever one criticizes government policy.”

Erugrul Özkök, the former editor-in-chief of Hürriyet, regards the photos as a “journalistic success” that could not be censored. “Israel damaged itself with this mission but it is also wrong of [Prime Minister] Erdogan not to classify Hamas as a terrorist organization,” he said.

Pro-government newspapers are accusing the Dogan group of playing into Israel’s hands by publishing the photos. Fehmi Koru, one of the best-known columnists close to the ruling AKP party, has a simple explanation for the approach being taken by Dogan’s paper: the media mogul is a business partner of Germany’s Axel Springer publishing group, says Koru, and Springer pursues a strategy of unquestioning solidarity with the Jewish state. Springer rejects this as absurd.

(Read full article)

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