Who’s the murderer? : 7 massacres, 537 deaths, zero resignations and always a press blackout
Turkish authorities imposed a press blackout less than an hour after 10 people were killed in an explosion in the touristic area of Sultanahmet in Istanbul, treading a well-worn path in terms of concealing news of massacres. No AKP official has ever resigned following security lapses resulting in the massacres, yet they have never failed to impose a press blackout
Turkish authorities imposed a press blackout less than an hour after 10 people were killed in an explosion in the touristic area of Sultanahmet in Istanbul, treading a well-worn path in terms of concealing news of massacres. No AKP official has ever resigned following security lapses resulting in the massacres, yet they have never failed to impose a press blackout
- On 28 December 2011, 34 poor villagers died in the Roboski Massacre in Uludere, Şırnak. In response, then-PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed his gratitude to the Turkish Armed Forces and the Turkish Air Force. None of those politically responsible for the massacre resigned – although they did enact a ban on reporting on the events.
- Some 54 people died on 11 May 2013 in Reyhanlı, a Turkish district on the border with Syria that had been under the threat of jihadists. Again, no one resigned, but the government did impose a ban on reporting the incident.
- On 13 May 2014, 301 miners died in the Soma Massacre. As before, no one resigned, but the public was denied the right to news about the massacre.
- Four Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) supporters were killed on 5 June 2015, while 400 more were injured in a bombing at a party rally in Diyarbakır. No one resigned, while news about the attack was banned.
- Thirty-three revolutionaries were massacred in Suruç on 20 July 2015. Like their predecessors, no politician quit because of the killings, but they did prohibit the dissemination of news about the incident.
- At least 100 people were killed on 10 October 2015 in a massacre at a peace rally in Ankara in which the police’s first action was to gas people who had been killed or injured in a jihadist bombing. The government promptly imposed a press blackout on the incident and, naturally, no one resigned.
- On 12 January 2016, at least 10 people were killed and 15 people injured in a suspected suicide attack in Sultanahmet Square, a stone’s throw from Istanbul’s most famous tourist sites, the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. Authorities imposed a press blackout within the hour.
Sendika.Org