Taraf

Last updated
Taraf
Taraf logo.svg
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner(s)Başar Arslan
PublisherAlkım Kitabevi
Editor Ahmet Altan (2007-2012)
Neşe Düzel (2013-2016)
Founded10 September 2002
Political alignment Liberal democracy
Cultural liberalism
Post-Kemalism
Gülenism
Language Turkish
Ceased publication27 July 2016
Headquarters Istanbul, Turkey
Circulation 56571 [1]
Website taraf.com.tr at the Wayback Machine (archive index)

Taraf ("Side" in Turkish) was a liberal newspaper in Turkey. It had distinguished itself by opposing interference by the Turkish military in the country's social and political affairs. [2] It was distributed nationwide, and had been in circulation since November 15, 2007. [3] On July 27, 2016, the newspaper was closed under a statutory decree during the state of emergency after the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt, due to its links with the coup plotters' Gülen movement. [4]

Contents

Overview

Taraf has published a series of highly-controversial stories that revealed the involvement of the Turkish military in daily political affairs. The revealed documents, such as coup plans that involved the bombing of historical mosques in Turkey ("Sledgehammer" coup plan) and bombing of a museum (Operation Cage Action Plan), significantly damaged the social image of the Turkish military. The sources that leaked such critical insider information to Taraf are still unknown. [5]

The response of the Turkish military to Taraf included canceling the newspaper's accreditation from press releases at its headquarters. [6] [7] A political journal, Nokta , had similarly published leaked military information (Sarıkız, Ayışığı, Yakamoz and Eldiven) and was closed down in 2007 due to pressure. [8]

The founder and owner of Taraf, Başar Arslan, dismisses accusations of bias and outside funding, saying that he has made a considerable loss in his mission to create what he calls the country's most prestigious newspaper. [9] He considers Taraf an investment that will eventually pay off. [10]

Some prominent names of Taraf, such as reporter Mehmet Baransu, columnist Emre (Emrullah) Uslu, and former columnist Önder Aytaç are known for their affiliation with the Gülen movement, although it has been denied that they act as quasi-official representatives of the movement. [11]

Taraf also served the interests of the Gülen movement in other ways, including silencing the allegations of cheating in compulsory public servants’ examinations in Turkey. [12]

History

In 2011 Taraf became the first Turkish partner of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, joining internationally known publications in signing a contract to publish the site's leaked documents firsthand. The Turkish daily was picked by WikiLeaks because it is "the bravest newspaper in Turkey", as described by the site's founder, Julian Assange. [13] [14]

On 14 December 2012, founding editor-in-chief Ahmet Altan, his assistant editor Yasemin Çongar, columnists Murat Belge and Neşe Düzel stepped down from their posts at the newspaper. The next day, columnist Hadi Uluengin followed the leaving group of journalists. [15] Owner of the daily, Başar Arslan stated that the resignations resulted from difference of opinion that developed in recent times, and nevertheless, the newspaper will continue to be published. [16]

Columnists

Cartoonist

Related Research Articles

Jandarma İstihbarat ve Terörle Mücadele or Jandarma İstihbarat Teşkilatı is the intelligence department of the Turkish Gendarmerie. JİTEM was active in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict. After the Susurluk scandal, former prime ministers Bülent Ecevit and Mesut Yılmaz have confirmed the existence of JİTEM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bülent Ecevit</span> 16th Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey (served 1974, 1977, 1978–79, and 1999–2002)

Mustafa Bülent Ecevit was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist, who served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in 1974, 1977, 1978–1979, and 1999–2002. Ecevit was chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP) between 1972 and 1980, and in 1987 he became chairman of the Democratic Left Party (DSP).

Murat Belge is a Turkish academic, translator, literary critic, columnist, civil rights activist, and occasional tour guide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Counter-Guerrilla</span> Turkish branch of Operation Gladio

Counter-Guerrilla is an alleged Turkish branch of Operation Gladio, a clandestine stay-behind anti-communist initiative backed by the United States as an expression of the Truman Doctrine. The founding goal of the operation was to erect a stay-behind guerrilla force to undermine a possible Soviet occupation. The goal was soon expanded to subverting communism in Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Censorship in Turkey</span>

Censorship in Turkey is regulated by domestic and international legislation, the latter taking precedence over domestic law, according to Article 90 of the Constitution of Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmet Altan</span> Turkish journalist and author (born 1950)

Ahmet Hüsrev Altan is a Turkish journalist and author. A working journalist for more than twenty years, he has served in all stages of the profession, from being a night shift reporter to editor in chief in various newspapers.

<i>Nokta</i> Turkish news magazine

Nokta was a leading Turkish weekly political news magazine. Founded in 1983, it was closed down by its owner in 2007 under military pressure after revealing several coup plots. Revived in 2015, it was closed again in the course of the 2016–17 Turkish purges.

Ergenekon was the name given to an alleged clandestine, secular ultra-nationalist organization in Turkey with possible ties to members of the country's military and security forces. The would-be group, named after Ergenekon, a mythical place located in the inaccessible valleys of the Altay Mountains, was accused of terrorism in Turkey.

Mehmet Eymür was a Turkish intelligence official. In 1995–1996 he led the counter-terrorism department of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), which he joined as a student in 1965 as a "pursuit officer". He was the right-hand man of MIT deputy undersecretary Hiram Abas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tuncay Güney</span> Turkish spy

Tuncay Güney, code name "Ipek" (silk), is a Turkish citizen of Dönmeh Jewish origin who claims to have infiltrated the Turkish Gendarmerie's intelligence organization JITEM, Ergenekon, the Workers' Party, and the Gülen movement before being outed. He is subordinate to Mehmet Eymür, who was discharged from the National Intelligence Organization. The information Güney has gleaned on these organizations make him a key figure in the ongoing Ergenekon investigation. His statements form the backbone of the 2455-page Ergenekon indictment, which mentions him 492 times and labels him a suspect at large.

Operation Sledgehammer is the name of an alleged Turkish secularist military coup plan dating back to 2003, in response to the Justice and Development Party (AKP) gaining office.

Sarıkız, Ayışığı, Yakamoz, Eldiven were the names of alleged Turkish military coup plans in 2004.

Özden Örnek was a Turkish admiral. He was the Commander of the Turkish Naval Forces from 2003 to 2005. In 2012 Örnek was sentenced to twenty years in prison for his alleged role in the 2003 "Sledgehammer" coup plan.

Mehmet Baransu is a Kurdish journalist and author from Turkey. He is a correspondent for Taraf, and previously worked for Aksiyon (1997–2000). He is the winner of a 2009 Sedat Simavi Journalism Award. Known for investigating the Turkish military, he reported on the "Cage Action Plan" which became part of the Ergenekon trials, and published documents in January 2010 revealing "Balyoz" ("Sledgehammer"), a plan for a coup that was supposedly hatched by Turkish military officers in 2003. In January 2010, in connection with Sledgehammer, Baransu delivered a suitcase to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office a suitcase containing evidence of the coup plot such as CDs, tapes, printed documents, and handwritten notes. The Sledgehammer plot involved plans to bomb two mosques in Istanbul, attack a military museum and blame it on religious extremists, and attack a Turkish plane and blame it on Greece. Three hundred and thirty-one of the 365 suspects were sentenced to prison on 21 September 2012, while the remaining 34 were acquitted. Three retired generals were sentenced to life in prison on charges of "attempting to overthrow the government by force," but their terms were later reduced to 20 years. Turkey's Constitutional Court ruled in June 2014 that the rights of most of the convicted suspects had been violated, and ordered the immediate release of 236 of them. The rest were released later. A new trial began on 3 November 2014. Reports released in December 2014 and February 2015 claimed that some of the evidence in the case was fabricated.

Ecevit Kılıç is a Turkish journalist and writer. He was a columnist for Cumhuriyet and later Sabah. He is the author of a number of books on Turkish organised crime and the Turkish deep state.

The political conflict between the AKP-ruled Turkish government and the Gülen movement of Fethullah Gülen began in 2013.

Turkey's media purge after the failed coup d'état on July 15, 2016 resulted in the shutdown of at least 131 media outlets and the arrest of 117 journalists – at least 35 of whom have been indicted for "membership in a terror group".

Leyla İpekçi is a Turkish journalist, screenwriter, and columnist.

<i>T24</i> (newspaper) Turkish news website

T24 is a Turkish online newspaper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yasemin Çongar</span> Turkish journalist, writer, and translator

Yasemin Çongar is a Turkish journalist, writer, and translator. She is the daughter of late Turkish concert pianist Gulay Ugurata.

References

  1. "Tiraj | MedyaTava - Yazmadıysa Doğru Değildir". www.medyatava.com. Archived from the original on 11 March 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  2. Birch, Nicholas (16 September 2008). "Turkey: Arrests, Court Case Reveal that Turkey is Dangerously Polarized". EurasiaNet. Retrieved 2008-02-07. ...Taraf, a hard-hitting new daily that has had dozens of scoops since it started publishing in late 2007
  3. Kılıç, Abdullah (2007-11-10). "Bâbıâli artık hiçbir haberi gizleyemeyecek". Zaman. Archived from the original on 2012-03-14. Retrieved 2010-11-03.
  4. "Taraf ve Zaman'ın yanı sıra 16 televizyon kanalı da kapatıldı". CNN Türk. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  5. "Şimdi de 'eldiven darbesi'". Vatan (in Turkish). 2008-07-08. Retrieved 2008-09-24. Powerpoint sunumu haline getirilen darbe planının Emniyet'ten 6 gün içinde sızdırılıp Taraf gazetesinin eline ulaştırılması ve bu gazetede dün özel haber yayınlanması dikkat çekti.
  6. "Yeni Şafak ve Star Genelkurmay'da". Türkiye. Radikal (in Turkish). 2008-09-10. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
  7. Önderoglu, Erol (2008-09-10). "Chief Of Staff Refuses Accreditation for Pro-Left Media". Bianet. Archived from the original on 2012-07-20. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
  8. "Turkey and the army: Paper soldiers". The Economist . 2008-06-26. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
  9. Kilic, Ecevit (2008-07-21). "Nokta gibi olacağız diye bir kaygım yok". Sabah (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-10-22.
  10. Kilic, Ecevit (2008-07-21). "Sıkışınca borç alarak gazeteyi çıkartıyoruz". Sabah (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-10-22.
  11. "CEMAAT HANGİ TARAF YAZARLARINDAN RAHATSIZ". Oda TV (in Turkish). 2012-01-09. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
  12. "Taraf'ın çelişen manşetleri". 4 September 2011.
  13. Turkish daily to publish WikiLeaks cables on Turkey Archived 2011-10-02 at the Wayback Machine , Today's Zaman
  14. Turkish newspaper Taraf signs contract with WikiLeaks, Hürriyet Daily News , 16 March 2011
  15. "Taraf'ta istifa depremi". Hürriyet Gündem (in Turkish). 15 December 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  16. "Ahmet Altan istifa etti". Sabah (in Turkish). 14 December 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2012.