BRITISH PAPER TO PAY COMPENSATION
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won the lawsuit he filed against the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph on charges that they insulted him.
A British high court ruled that the newspaper did not ground its allegations in evidence and that the story was inaccurate. The court ordered the British daily to pay compensation worth 25,000 British pounds to Prime Minister Erdoğan.
http://hurarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/goster/haber.aspx?id=17163283&tarih=2011-03-02
POLICE RAID HOMES OF OPPOSITION FIGURES
Police raided ten locations with search warrants in conjunction with the Ergenekon case. All addresses belonged to journalists and reporters known for their opposition to the current government. Searches continue in the homes of Professor Yalcin Kucuk, author Nedim Sener, and former National Intelligence Agency (MIT) member Kasif Kozinoglu.
http://haber.gazetevatan.com/ergenekonda-10-adrese-baskin/362847/1/Gundem
TURKISH POLICE SEARCH HOMES OF JOURNALISTS
Turkish police on Thursday raided the homes of several people, including journalists and a former intelligence officer, as part of a crackdown on an alleged gang accused of conspiring to topple the government, the Associated Press reports.
The raids come two weeks after a court jailed three journalists who were affiliated with the dissident web site, Oda TV. Critics say freedom of the press is under attack in the country and the United States has expressed concern over media freedom. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has denied any government attempt to silence journalists.
The European Union and the Committee of Protect Journalists have accused Turkey of suppressing critical news and commentary on the alleged anti-government conspiracy. About 400 people, including journalists, politicians, academics and retired military officers are on trial accused of being part of the so-called Ergenekon network, which allegedly tried to overthrow Erdoğan's government in 2003.
Police were searching computers, notes and books of the journalists, including Ahmet Şık who already faces prosecution for co-writing a critical book about the crackdown on the so-called Ergenekon network, NTV reported.
Police had reportedly discovered a draft manuscript by Şık on one of the computers seized in last month's raid on Oda TV several websites said. The draft allegedly focuses on the religious groups within the police force.
Nedim Şener, an investigative reporter for Milliyet and Posta newspapers, and Doğan Yurdakul, who occasionally writes for Oda TV, were among the targeted journalists along with a renowned hard-line secularist and leftist writer Yalçın Küçük, NTV said.
The Ergenekon case started in June 2007 with the discovery of 27 hand grenades in a shanty house belonging to a retired noncommissioned officer. The finding has led to scores of arrests and put nearly 200 journalists, writers, military personnel, gang leaders, scholars, businessmen and politicians in detention in what has become a terror investigation to stop the alleged ultra-nationalist gang. In the later stages of the investigation, those in custody have been accused of planning to topple the government by staging a coup, initially by spreading chaos and mayhem.
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/17170213.asp?gid=373
via hudson-ny.org
