Turkey Has World's Freest Press- Claims Erdogan

Oh, that joker, Erdogan. The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claims that his country takes top honors when it comes to freedom of the press.

“Nowhere in the world is the press freer than it is in Turkey. I'm very sure of myself when I say this,” he said in a televised speech to a conference in Ankara.

“The press is so free in Turkey that one can make insults, slanders, defamation, racism and commit hate crimes that are not tolerated even in democratic countries.”

“I've personally experienced this, so has my family."

The actual truth:

Turkey was the world’s top jailer of journalists in 2012 and 2013, ahead of Iran and China, according to the international Committee to Protect Journalists, before improving to tenth place this year.

But Erdogan just arrested a bunch of media folk affiliated with his rival Fethullah Gulen.

And this 16-year-old boy:

The remarks also coincided with the release pending trial of a 16-year-old schoolboy who was controversially arrested on charges of insulting Erdogan by accusing him of being the “chief of corruption.”

But Erdogan said: “You cannot insult them (his family) like this in any other country. There is no limit to the insults (we receive). You cannot run such headlines in Europe or the U.S.”

“Europeans accuse us as if such things never happen in their countries. No one raises their voice when journalists are detained in Europe.”

As for top dog for freedom of the press- according to Reporters Without Borders, Finland, the Netherlands and Norway received that honor in 2013.  Turkey ranked 154 out of 179.

Dream on Recep.

Turkish Police Raid Media Outlets Of Erdogan's Rival Fethullah Gulen

In a nationwide raid, 23 people affiliated with Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen have been arrested. Gulen- who is now based in the U.S.- was a former ally-turned-critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In what they termed "anti-terrorism" the police raided media outlets, including a TV station and the Anatolia news agency.  There were also attempts to raid the Zaman Daily, but crowds prevented that from happening. Some of those detained were an executive, producers and directors of the TV station, and employees of the state-run Anatolia news agency.  This seems to be payback for investigations into a mega bribery and corruption scandal involving members of Erdogan's administration.

The raids on Zaman newspaper and Samanyolu television marked an escalation of Erdogan's battle with former ally Gulen, with whom he has been in open conflict since a graft investigation targeting Erdogan's inner circle emerged a year ago.

"The free press cannot be silenced," a crowd chanted at the offices of Zaman as its editor Ekrem Dumanli made a speech defiantly challenging police to detain him, while elsewhere in Istanbul the chairman of Samanyolu TV was being detained.

"This is a shameful sight for Turkey," Samanyolu TV group chairman Hidayet Karaca told reporters just before he himself was held.

"Sadly in 21st Century Turkey this is the treatment they dish out to a media group with tens of television and radio stations, internet media and magazines."

Media reports said arrest warrants had been issued for 32 people. State broadcaster TRT Haber said 23 people had been detained in raids across EU-candidate Turkey, including two former police chiefs. As well as Karaca, a television producer, a director and scriptwriters were held.

More interesting info here regarding the arrests and the Gulen/Erdogan battle.

Tell me why Turkey deserves to join the E.U.?