Koza İpek Holding

Ankara police on Nov. 6 searched offices of business groups working under the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), known to have close links to the movement of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

Turkey's Press Council has filed a complaint against a penal court judge who assigned a caretaker panel to the management of Koza ?pek Group's media outlets.

More than 50 employees of several opposition media outlets that were recently placed under the management of a trustee panel have been relieved of their duties, daily Hürriyet has reported.

What happened in Turkey on Oct. 28 is something that should enter the Guinness Book of World Records, if it ever includes a chapter on "authoritarianism." Two newspapers and two news channels, all very critical of the government, were taken over by government-appointed "trustees." In less polite terms, they were practically stolen by the state. 

The editorial policy of dailies Bugün and Millet, which belong to the Koza ?pek group that recently was assigned caretakers by the government, have changed their editorial policy in one night, going from anti-government to pro-government. 

Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu has expressed his desire to form a single-party government through the votes of Turkish citizens, regardless of President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an's initiative to give the mandate if the CHP does not gain a majority of the vote in the upcoming Nov. 1 election.

Turkey's top business group has expressed "serious concerns" over the fate of press freedom and the security of the judiciary after the seizure of two televisions and newspapers owned by the Koza-?pek Group in a statement on Oct. 28. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has seemingly justified the appointment of a trustee board to manage the Koza-?pek group, 23 companies of which have been seized by a local court as part of a crackdown on followers of the government's ally-turned-nemesis Fethullah Gülen.

Washington urges Turkey to respect a vocal opposition and to "live up to its own democratic values," State Department Spokesperson John Kirby has said, responding to a question on the Oct. 28 seizure of media outlets owned by the Gülen-linked Koza-?pek Group. 

Just hours after a trustee panel shut down two television channels belonging to the Koza-?pek Group, dailies Bugün and Millet had their printing halted in the late hours of Oct. 28.