Turkish police arrest more journalists on alleged terror chargesSeptember 2, 2015 - 15:56 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish police have raided the Ankara-based offices of a media group critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a day after two British reporters were jailed on controversial terror charges, The Guardian reports. The raids on Koza-Ipek Media sparked fresh concern about press freedom in Turkey, which is gearing for snap legislative elections in November, the second in five months. Six people were arrested and a warrant issued for the conglomerate’s chief executive, Akin Ipek, who was thought to be in Britain, the state-run Anatolia news agency said, according to The Guardian. The raid on Tuesday, September 1, came a day after a court in Turkey’s Kurdish-dominated southeast ordered two British journalists working for US-based Vice News to be remanded in custody on terror charges. Speaking on Kanalturk on Tuesday, Ipek denounced the operation as “baseless” and “funny”, adding: “If they [police] are able to find even a cent of illicit money I am ready to hand my company over to them.” Ali Haydar Konca, Turkey’s new EU affairs minister from the Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), said the raids “cannot be justified”. “I’m worried that operations targeting the media will create great concern across the world about the state of democracy in Turkey,” he added. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |