Deputy PM Babacan presents journalism award for 'Erdoğan leak' story
The Economy Journalists Associationâs (EGD) âBest Newsâ award has gone to a report about a leaked phone conversation allegedly between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄan and his son related to the graft investigation probe. Surprisingly, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan presented the award to a reporter of fiercely anti-government daily Sözcü, which published the winning piece.
The report, written by Sözcüâs Mehtap Ãzcan Ertürk, stated that those who uploaded the recording to YouTube had earned $100,000 from the video-sharing website.
In his speech at the June 19 ceremony, Babacan said journalism should be âimpartialâ and added that Turkey could âmove forward if journalists write the facts without being influenced by anything else.â
A number of sensational phone conversations were posted on YouTube ahead of Turkeyâs March 30 local elections, amid high political tension in the wake of the corruption probe late last year. One of the recordings, leaked in February, appears to reveal Prime Minister ErdoÄan asking his son Bilal to âzeroâ millions of euros stashed at several houses.
In an expert report submitted by Turkeyâs science watchdog, TÃBÄ°TAK, to the Ankara Prosecutorâs Office on June 6, the leaked recordings of ErdoÄan were claimed to be âmontages.â
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