Columnists from the Sözcü daily sent in empty columns and the daily published a headline criticizing the pressure on media critical of the Turkish government on Tuesday, the same day that the offices of a Turkish conglomerate and a media group were raided by police in a government orchestrated operation in the capital city of Ankara, a few days after claims by whistleblower Fuat Avni that a crackdown on critical media was to be carried out. The headline proclaimed, "If the Sözcü daily stays silent then Turkey stays silent," and in a protest against unprecedented pressure on the media, the likes of which the daily said was not seen even during Turkey's coup era, columnists made a statement with their empty columns. The daily claimed that it will keep on writing the truth and will not be affected by the pressure. The raid on Tuesday came days after a whistleblower who goes by the pseudonym Fuat Avni on Twitter claimed that the government is planning to conduct raids on the media outlets that are critical of the Turkish government in an attempt to silence them. Auditors accompanied by a police escort raided the headquarters of Koza İpek Holding in Ankara on Tuesday morning. The Turkish dailies Bugün and Millet, channels Bugün TV and Kanaltürk and website BGNNews.com all belong to the İpek Media Group, which is part of Koza İpek Holding. The report by the Sözcü daily said the presidential palace and the government has been increasing the pressure on media groups, especially over the last year, which are critical of the government. Sözcü claimed that in the last year, 57 complaints were filed against the daily. The report also said more than 60 complaints were filed against its journalists Emin Çölaşan, Uğur Dündar, Bekir Coşkun, Yılmaz Özdil, Necati Doğru, Mehmet Türker, Rahmi Turan, Soner Yalçın, Saygı Öztürk and Kemal Baytaş. The report went on to claim that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan files complaints even against news reports in which his name is not involved. The daily said the aim of actions like these is to scare journalists and the daily itself, to control them and make it impossible for them to write, and finally to destroy freedom of thought and expression. The daily said Erdoğan's lawyers have been filing complaints alleging that it is insulting the president against several of its reports ever since Erdoğan was elected president on Aug. 10 last year. According to Sözcü. most of the complaints are exact copies of each other and most of the time the complaint only gives the whole text of a report and does not say which part contains the supposed insult. The report also said not only journalists, but also judges and the prosecutors are under pressure, and that they are forced to give prison sentences to journalists. "We are protesting the pressures on the judiciary and journalists because of reports that do not contain any insults," the report said. Saying that the daily sees it as its duty to inform the public of these unjust pressures by the government, Sözcü said, "We want the important decisions given by the Constitutional Court and by the European Court of Human Rights [ECtHR] on freedom of thought and expression to be taken into account." Sözcü also criticized the fact that the government does not deny claims made by Fuat Avni of a crackdown on critical media being carried out.
