Pro-government daily accused US Congress members of signing letter for money
The pro-government Sabah daily on Wednesday said that dozens of members of the US Congress, who sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry last week to press the Turkish government to secure media freedoms, signed the letter in return for money.
In its main story published on Wednesday with a headline reading “Give the money, take the signature,” Sabah said the “mystery behind the treasonous letter has been uncovered.”
According to the newspaper, trips and donations from the “parallel structure” -- a term invented by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to refer to the Gülen movement, also called Hizmet -- prompted members of Congress to pen a “black propaganda letter,” which the paper says “makes complaints about Turkey.” Sabah said the letter is part of a “dirty collusion” perpetrated by the “parallel state.”
In a letter to Kerry dated Feb. 2, around 90 members of Congress stated that they are “deeply concerned” with the recent arrest of journalists in Turkey, underlining that the Turkish government's steps to “intimidate, arrest and smother” critical voices are a threat to the very democratic principles that the country claims to respect.
“… [We] strongly urge you to reach out to President Erdoğan and his administration to encourage a peaceful and appropriate resolution to these cases. A free media must be supported and protected to foster an environment open to constructive political discussion and to ensure freedom of expression for all the Turkish people,” the Congress members said in the letter to Kerry.
Sabah said it has been revealed that 43 of the 88 signatories have monetary relationships with the Gülen movement and that these 43 Congress members took trips funded by the movement and received donations from it as well. The report, written by Sabah's Washington reporter Ragıp Soylu, said the letter, which demanded a freer press in Turkey, is “parallel” and was written because of the donations given to US Congress members.
The congressional members' letter touched on highly problematic detentions of journalists in Turkey and a Turkish court's blocking of scores of journalists' tweets. The US politicians also underlined the Turkish government's earlier attempts to silence opposition voices in the letter.
The “parallel structure” is a term used by circles close to Erdoğan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). These circles allege that members of the Gülen movement, inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, allegedly operate from within the police and the judiciary. Erdoğan launched a war against Hizmet after a scandalous corruption investigation targeting people in his inner circle went public with a wave of detentions on Dec. 17, 2013. Erdoğan blamed police officers, judges and prosecutors he claimed are linked to the Gülen movement for the investigation, which he branded a “coup attempt.”
- Created on .