Zaman, killed on Friday, wakes up on Sunday as a pro-government zombie pic.twitter.com/E7dqotT3CS
— Piotr Zalewski (@p_zalewski) March 6, 2016
More articles supporting the government could be found in the Sunday edition of the paper that has an estimated circulation of 650,000, AFP reported. Containing just 12 pages, the paper is a slimmer version of its previous self, and the content is sparse, according to Reuters.
Front page of last free @todayszamancom before it is seized by the government in Turkey #ZamanSusturulamaz pic.twitter.com/cT2kCOyfv3
— Sevgi Akarcesme (@SevgiAkarcesme) March 4, 2016
Police also raided Zaman's building, forcefully imposing a Turkish court order to put the media under administration. The newspaper's editor-in-chief Abdulhamit Bilici was fired by the new trustees.
"The Sunday edition was not produced by Zaman's staff," one of the newspaper's journalists told AFP, adding, "internet has been cut off, we are unable to use our system."
"It's impossible to continue to work at Zaman daily because the trustees who were assigned by the government will fire us a couple of days later. All of us will be fired from the newspaper. But if they don't, of course we will resign, because it's impossible to work with the government, we will not write what they want," Emre Soncan, a journalist from Today's Zaman newspaper, an English version of Zaman daily, told RT on Saturday.
Zaman newspaper is under police attack in Turkey. @washingtonpost @WSJ @BBC @lemondefr @Reuters @nytimes @CNN pic.twitter.com/4Maz1VZZAO
— Keçecizade Fuat (@kececifuat) March 4, 2016
The Zaman newspaper's former team has launched a new paper of their own, Yarina Bakis ("Look to Tomorrow"), local media reported, saying that journalists had decided to remain in line with their previous editorial policy. The new paper reported on the weekend protests in Istanbul.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu denied any links between the government takeover of the paper and changes in its editorial policy, saying the seizure had nothing to do with the paper's criticism of the authorities.
Comment: The shameless lying by a psychopathic government is on full display here.
"There are many media outlets in Turkey that criticize our government. None of them are subjected to legal procedures," Davutoglu told A Haber television on Sunday, as quoted by AFP. "What's in question here is not merely press activity, but rather an operation targeting a legitimate government that came to power with popular support," he added, referring to Zaman's affiliation with now US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, a fierce critic of President Erdogan, who was put on a "most-wanted terrorist list" by Ankara.
Comment: It seems that Erdogan's paranoia is escalating daily.