Today’s Zaman editor-in-chief resigns over ‘pressure on media freedom’

ISTANBUL

Today’s Zaman Editor-in-Chief Bülent Keneş announced his resignation on Dec. 3 over “government pressure” and personal lawsuits against him.

“As the founding editor-in-chief of Today’s Zaman, I have sincerely tried to fulfill my job to the best of my ability, maintained the paper’s integrity and tried to resist all kinds of pressure from the government as much as I could,” Keneş said.

Keneş was detained for “openly insulting the president” over his tweets about President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Oct. 8 and was released by the court, but continued committing the same crime, an indictment claimed. 

A prosecutor for press crimes recalled that Keneş’s “repeated insults” at a press conference after being released proved the “density of the intention” for the crime and he was arrested again on Oct. 10.

The prosecutor said some of Keneş’s tweets could not be considered within the limits of freedom of expression, demanding between 18 months and eight years and two months in jail time for the journalist. 

Keneş will again be on the stand if the court approves the indictment. 

Earlier in October, Ekrem Dumanlı, editor-in-chief of daily Zaman, also announced his resignation due to “unlawful pressure on the press.”

Today’s Zaman, which is the English version of Zaman, is allegedly close to the movement of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.