Istanbul, Nov 5 () - Director of Turkey’s Press Council Pınar Türenç filed a complaint to the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) against the penal court judge, who has made the decision to assign a trustee panel for seizing the management of Koza İpek Group’s media outlets.
The dailies have been were taken over, with their printing halted in the late hours of Oct. 28 and riot police storming their sister TV stations, Bugün and Kanaltürk televisions, and forcing them off air. The media outlets have been under the control of the trustee panel.
The editorial policy has been "shifted" in short time
The editorial policy of dailies Bugün and Millet have been changed in one night, going from anti-government to pro-government, according to reports. Meanwhile, some of the journalists, whose names were handed to the police standing at the headquarters in Istanbul, were not allowed inside the building and were fired.
The written petition of the Press Council urged, the trustee was biased in his decisions, as he has dismissed 71 employees in a brief time.
The petition underlined, this was a violation against the international agreements, in which Turkey takes part.
"Violation of freedom of opinion"
“An investigation is requested, as the penal court judge Yunus Süer clearly violated the freedom of opinion and failed to do his duty for assure fundamental rights and freedom, and security of law” said the petition, referring to the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court.
“The operation led by the trustee panel has started to affect, de facto, editorial preferences of the media outlets in question. The context of the assignment is ambiguous and the panel has censored the publications” said the petition.
