The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
March 7, 2016

Turkish Authorities Seize Zaman, Country's Largest Newspaper
------------------------------------------------------------

Turkey's largest newspaper has been taken over by the authorities. On
Friday, Turkish police raided the offices of the newspaper Zaman after a
court ruling put the newspaper under state control without giving any
reason. The next day, as thousands rallied to defend the newspaper,
police fired rubber bullets and tear gas; dozens reportedly collapsed
after being overcome by the gas. Sunday's edition of the newspaper
featured a new propagandistic, pro-government line, while former Zaman
staff launched a new paper of their own. Zaman's former editor-in-chief
Abdülhamit Bilici, who was fired in the takeover, said it was a dark
period for Turkey.

Abdülhamit Bilici: "Unfortunately, it has been a habit for the last
three, four years that anyone who is speaking against the government
policies is facing either court cases or prison or such control by the
government. And I think this is a dark period for our country, for our
democracy. But I don't think that this dark period will continue. It
cannot be sustained, and it cannot be continued."



.