Turkey: 'Silent' columnists protest media restrictions

The paper says it has been repeatedly accused of insulting the president, a criminal offence in Turkey

Opinion columnists at a Turkish newspaper have submitted blank columns in protest against what they describe as the "pressure" put on opposition media outlets.

The Sozcu daily published a front page editorial decrying restrictions on press freedom under the headline: "If Sozcu stays silent, then Turkey stays silent". While columnists' faces appeared on the front page, the spaces beside them were left completely empty, something repeated on inside pages. The paper, which has been openly critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the government, said it wanted to highlight "increasing pressure" from the administration on both journalists and the judiciary. It notes that it has faced 57 court cases and 67 criminal complaints over its news stories in the past year, with 10 of its columnists sued over their articles.

The paper's move came on the same day that Turkish police raided the Ankara offices of a media group with ties to US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, a rival of President Erdogan. Earlier this year, a local paper in Turkey's southeast protested against limits on press freedom by filling its front page with recipes for traditional Turkish dishes instead of news.

There was broad support for Sozcu's stance on social media. "Let's buy Sozcu tomorrow," writes one Twitter user. "I am against media being silenced." Another says he has never read the paper before but would do so now as a show of support. And several users voice concern for the future of Turkish media outlets, with one person writing: "Not only Sozcu, if Turkish media is silenced, the country will sink into darkness."

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