海角大神

Turkey's government detained the editor-in-chief and at least 12 staffers of a major opposition newspaper on Monday, adding to the tens of thousands arrested or dismissed from government jobs the months following a failed coup in July.聽

A cartoonist, attorney, and several columnists were among the dozen or so staffers of the left-leaning, pro-secular Cumhuriyet newspaper taken into custody by Turkish police, allegedly for publishing content that attempted to legitimize the attempted military coup, according to a statement from the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office.聽

Nearly 37,000 Turks have been arrested and more than 100,000 suspended or dismissed from government jobs since the country entered into a state of emergency following the failed coup, leading to accusations by opposition parties and human rights groups that the government is taking advantage of the situation to silence all dissenting voices, not just those involved in the coup.聽As Scott Peterson聽reported for 海角大神聽in July:聽

For President Recep Tayyip Erdo臒an, it鈥檚 a moment that goes to the heart of the Turkey he is building, and now 鈥� taking advantage of what he believes to be a democratic, post-coup mandate 鈥� is tapping to further reshape the nation such that his increasingly authoritarian, Islamist brand of rule faces no challenge.

President Erdo臒an鈥檚 harsh response speaks to a renewed 鈥撀燼nd perhaps justifiable, some say 鈥� paranoia, as he vows to rid Turkey of a 鈥渧irus.鈥� He has said that 鈥渢raitors will pay a heavy price for the betrayal of this country,鈥� and says God granted a blessing 鈥渂ecause this will cause our armed forces to be cleansed.鈥�

But at stake may also be internal stability in Turkey, which serves as a frontline bulwark against regional turmoil in Syria and Iraq, hosts 3.1 million refugees, and is home to NATO鈥檚 second-largest armed force. Turkey provides an airbase at Incirlik for US planes to strike IS targets, and some US nuclear weapons are stored there.

Since July, 170 media outlets have been shut down and 105 journalists arrested, according to the general secretary of the Turkish Journalists' Association. Additionally, more than 700 journalists have had their press credentials revoked.聽

"Instead of moves to strengthen democracy we are faced with a counter coup," main opposition party leader Kemal K谋l谋莽daro臒lu聽said after visiting聽Cumhuriyet. "We are faced with a situation where the coup has been used as an opportunity to silence society's intellectuals and mount pressure on media."聽

Opposition politicians and demonstrators gathered at the newspaper's headquarters in Istanbul on Monday to express solidarity with the detained journalists, chanting anti-government slogans.聽

The move also drew criticism internationally, with聽John Dalhuisen, Europe Director for rights group Amnesty International, condemning the detentions as a "systematic attempt to silence all critical voices." He described the widening crackdown on dissenting media as a "blatant misuse of emergency powers," and called on authorities to release the journalists from pretrial detention.聽

European Parliament President Martin Schulz tweeted that the detentions were "yet another red line crossed against freedom of expression in Turkey," and a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said:聽"We have emphasized, and will continue to do so, that press freedom is not just something of great value for us, but central to every democratic state of law."聽

Despite the arrests and the threat of closure or government takeover, Cumhuriyet columnist Ay艧e Y谋ld谋r谋m聽said the newspaper would not back down from spreading its message.聽

"We are not going to hand over Cumhuriyet; we are not going to allow them to assign a trustee," she said outside of the paper's headquarters. "We will hold our heads high and continue our publication without fear."聽

This report contains material from the Associated Press and Reuters.聽