Turkey’s FOX TV anchorman Portakal says he has received a death threat

ISTANBUL

The popular anchorman of FOX TV’s primetime news, Fatih Portakal, has said he recently received a death threat.

“This is the result of the horrible political climate that politicians have created in this country,” Portakal wrote on Twitter on Dec. 19, sharing a message sent to him.

“I’m being blunt: I will kill Fatih Portakal … I will also kill the owner of FOX TV for employing a traitor [like Portakal],” read the threatening messages that he shared.

“How could this person be so blind as to write such sentences?” Portakal wrote, adding that he has taken legal action, “as before.”

Aytun Çıray, an executive member of the recently-formed İYİ (Good) Party, defended Portakal against the threatening message.

“Those who threaten and try to stir chaos are the traitors of this country and the traitors of us all,” Çıray’s wrote on Twitter on Dec. 20.

However, Çıray, a former Health Ministry undersecretary, also added that “saying ‘politicians’ [are responsible for a such climate] is unacceptable, as it will only diminish hopes of creating a parliamentary democracy.”

“If the diagnosis is wrong, the treatment is a nightmare,” he said.

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Barış Yarkadaş also voiced support for Portakal with a post shared on his Twitter account on Dec. 20.

“We are warning those who fail to take precautions against journalists and those who continue to persist in journalism,” Yarkadaş wrote.