Military opens door to once-vetoed media

Özgür Ekşi ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

This file photo shows Maj. Gen. Hıfzı Çubuklu, who is currenly in jail on charges of making black propaganda against the government, giving a brief to reporters. AA photo

The Chief of General Staff has opened the doors to today’s Air Forces’ show in Konya to once-vetoed media outlets such as daily Zaman, Bugün, and television station Kanal 7, but refrained from inviting outlets highly critical to the government such as daily Aydınlık and Ulusal Kanal channel.

Chief of General Staff General Necdet Özel and all force commanders will attend a show to celebrate the Turkish Stars aerobatic team’s 20th anniversary of foundation.

The Chief of General Staff has thus ended the accreditation practice implemented after the Feb. 28 coup process, in which Turkish military doors were closed to a number of media publications. The accreditation, however, is still in practice for publications known for their opposition to the government, such as the Aydınlık newspaper and the Ulusal Kanal television channel.

The media has requested the reopening of the accreditation for a long time, but received no result during the tenure of former Yaşar Büyükanıt. The successor to Büyükanıt, İlker Başbuğ, who is currently being held in prison on accusations of anti-governmental internet publication claims, opened military doors to a number of publications like daily newspapers Star and Yeni Şafak. The successor to Başbuğ, Chief of General Staff Işık Koşaner has further smoothed the process. The doors remained officially closed to the same media, but it is known that in practice correspondents can talk to military personnel on the phone, even though they can still not enter military bases.

It has also been learned that once-vetoed publications received an official invitation to attend the latest air show. Asked whether marginal newspapers like Yeni Akit had also been invited to the show, sources from the air force stated that the invitation was open to all media members and that anyone could join.

However, Aydınlık and Ulusal Kanal representatives stated that they had not received any invitation at all.