To united nations working group on arbitrary detention

Subscriptions to the Gulen affiliated Zaman newspaper, journal or magazine

With nearly 1 million sales and subscriptions¹³, the Zaman daily was Turkey’s highest circulated newspaper. It was one of the leading critical newspapers that dared to publish articles about corruption investigations that rattled the Turkish government and incriminated Erdoğan and others. On March 4, 2016, the Turkish government confiscated Zaman and appointed partisans to run the newspaper despite the fact that the Turkish Constitution explicitly bans seizure or confiscation of publication/broadcasting organs. The editorial line of the newspaper became pro-Erdoğan overnight after the seizure.

The Zaman daily, right after the failed coup on July 15, 2016, was shut down with the emergency decree-law no. 668, dated July 27, 2016.Many examples from arrest warrant and indictments indicate that a subscription to the Zaman daily is used as evidence of membership in a terrorist organization. Furthermore, the accusation is not confined to subscribers; their spouses and children, too, have been facing the same accusations. Considering that Zaman was at one point in time selling 1,2 million copies a day, the Turkish government considers such a large number of subscribers to be suspects. The number multiplies when one factors the spouses and children in the tally.

Today, thousands of people have been put under arrest simply for being a reader of a newspaper that was sold at almost all newsstands, was subscribed to and paid for by credit card and was published under guarantee of the law, the constitution and international agreements.

Not only Zaman but other critical publications such as the Bugün daily, the Aksiyon weekly news magazine and the Sızıntı monthly periodical were also listed as criminal evidence by prosecutors who investigated their subscribers. If there is any record of a subscription, it is included as evidence in indictments.¹⁴

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