Brawls erupt as Turkish police storm media group linked to Erdogan foe

The Koza Ipek Holding, which has interests in media, energy, construction and mining, is accused of providing funding for the “Gulenist Terror Organization” headed by U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen, who is said to have infiltrated Turkey’s state apparatus with thousands of followers in an effort to overthrow the government. But I was not involved in such an illegitimate business, and now they have appointed a trustee to my companies.

The raid was broadcast live by Koza-Ipek’s channels Bugun TV and Kanal Turk.

The move triggered demonstrations in both Ankara and Istanbul on Tuesday, with protesters chanting: “We will not be silenced”. A few demonstrators were seen being thrown to the ground before being detained, while a few used umbrellas to shield their faces from police pepper spray.

Mr Gulen, the spiritual leader of the Hizmet movement, is a rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Earlier this year, the Turkish government also seized management of Asya Katilim Bankasi AS, or Bank Asya, a lender linked to the Gulen movement.

Baris Yarkardas, Istanbul deputy for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), who was at the scene, described the police actions as “illegal”.

Turkish officials were not immediately available for comment.

The United States continues to have concerns over the right to free media and free speech in Turkey, State Department spokesperson John Kirby has said in his answer to a question on the seizure of Koza Ipek, a corporation with links to the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) ally-turned-enemy Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen. To get into the office building, police cut through gates with chainsaws and broke into the networks’ control rooms, ordering the broadcasts shut down.

The raid came two days after a ruling to replace the media group’s board of trustees with handpicked choices, including relatives of the ruling AK Party.

The state of democracy in Turkey and its treatment of journalists have always been a concern of rights groups and Western governments, and is a factor in the country’s faltering talks to join the European Union. Polls, however, indicate it is unlikely it will secure such a vote on November 1, let alone the large majority it would need to change the constitution and endow the presidency with the broad powers Erdogan seeks.

The government “is trying to silence every single dissenter days ahead of the election”, the Ankara-based Contemporary Journalists’ Association said in a statement.

The secular-leaning Turkish daily Hurriyet’s headquarters was vandalised by a mob last month after the newspaper had been criticised by President Erdogan.