Turkish daily Takvim files complaint against CNN's Christiane Amanpour

ANKARA - Agence France-Presse

Takvim had published two weeks ago a fake 'interview' with Amanpour.

The Turkish daily newspaper Takvim has lodged a formal complaint against CNN International and its anchor Christiane Amanpour for their "false" coverage of the anti-government protests, sparked by the destruction attempt of Istanbul's Gezi Park, that have rocked Turkey.

"We filed a complaint Thursday against CNN and Amanpour on charges of inciting the public to hatred and enmity by making false news," Takvim daily news director Mevlut Yüksel, who submitted the petition to an Istanbul prosecutor's office with his lawyer, told AFP. T

The newspaper in the petition accuses the US broadcaster and the veteran journalist of "denigrating state organs, using the freedom of expression in uncontrolled and infinite ways and causing damages to public property by provoking the populace through false news to join protests."

Turkish government officials have repeatedly lashed out at international media outlets for their coverage of the nationwide demonstrations that have presented the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) government with its greatest challenge since coming to power in 2002.

Takvim had published two weeks ago a fake “interview” with Amanpour in which she said the CNN editorial board had made her cover recent events with the intention of “destabilizing” Turkey for international business interests. The senior anchorwoman saying "Shame on you" via her Twitter account.

Ankara mayor Melih Gokcek last week launched a Twitter campaign against BBC Turkish correspondent Selin Girit, accusing her of acting as an agent for Britain. He repeated this week by targeting CNN, by promoting the hashtag #stoplyingCNN.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has over the past month accused several times foreign media of wrongly portraying the mass unrest that erupted after police brutally cracked down the peaceful protests at Gezi PArk.