Why don't you investigate the sale of Flash TV...

Erkan Kork, the owner of Payfix Electronic Money and Payment Services—a company alleged to have been used for money laundering—is currently in prison. Days after his arrest, he filed a complaint against journalists Murat Ağırel and Timur Soykan, claiming they had used 'threats and blackmail during the transfer and acquisition of Flash Haber TV.'

This is the justification for the police raids on the homes of Ağırel and Soykan and their subsequent detention. However, by February 27, when Ağırel and Soykan held the meeting that is the subject of the complaint, Erkan Kork had already purchased Flash Haber more than two months prior! The logic behind the accusation of influencing the sale holds no water.

Moreover, Ağırel acted with extreme caution when going to meet this individual. He took Soykan with him to serve as a witness; he also insisted on meeting in a public place and recording the conversation. He then wrote about the meeting in Cumhuriyet on March 11. He conducted a journalistic activity that was so transparent it left no room for doubt...

The prosecutors who had seven journalists arrested for days after they covered the Sarachane rallies, and who later filed lawsuits against them, have also gone after journalistic activity. The indictment, which seeks the punishment of the seven journalists for 'violating the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations,' states the following:

'No determination was made by law enforcement that the suspects—Bülent Kılıç, Kurtuluş Arı, Yasin Akgül, Zeynep Kuray, Gökhan Kam, Ali Onur Tosun, and Hayri Tunç—were performing journalistic activities, and no evidence or indications were obtained to corroborate the suspects' statements.'

This is an absurd justification. If the prosecutor's office had simply looked at the reports published at the time our colleagues were arrested, they would have seen that they were journalists. Clearly, they did not want to see it...

Why participating in a non-violent, democratic protest should be a crime is a separate issue entirely.

If the prosecutors were to investigate how Erkan Kork was allowed to purchase Flash Haber despite being tried on money laundering charges, rather than investigating journalistic activity, I am sure they would encounter much more interesting data.

Imagine this: Cafer Mahiroğlu, the owner of Halk TV, reaches an agreement to buy the channel and even pays a deposit. But someone intervenes, breaks Mahiroğlu's deal, and paves the way for Erkan Kork to purchase the channel. Then, he gets arrested, the channel is seized and transferred to the TMSF! Here comes a new pro-government channel! Isn't it a mysterious process?

Saying 'I trust my source' is not enough

I saw and watched a video on social media that compiled the predictions made by some journalists regarding the Party Assembly elections ahead of the CHP's extraordinary congress:

Sinan Burhan: 'The moment of truth will come at the Party Assembly, friends. It is being stated that he could get between 20 and 30 people—a very large number—into the 60-member Party Assembly.'

Barış Yarkadaş: 'That list will definitely be breached. At least 15 people from outside will enter this list. Let's say that once. At least 15 people from outside will enter this list.'

Zafer Şahin: 'This means the Party Assembly list will be breached by more people than anticipated.'

Abdülkadir Selvi: 'It appears that Özgür Özel's key list will be breached.'

However, none of these predictions came true; Chairman Özgür Özel's list was elected at the congress without any losses. I wish the only things being discussed about this congress were election predictions.

Very serious accusations were made on television regarding the first party congress where Özgür Özel was elected chairman. The most striking was the accusation voiced by Nuray Başaran on TGRT. In that program, Nuray Başaran began by saying, "You know, there were also mobile phones distributed at the congress," and then claimed that the prosecutor's office had "determined that over 1,200 phones were purchased, that the invoices for these phones were accessed, and that they were matched with the delegates' IMEI numbers."

Murat Ongun, the head of Medya A.Ş. affiliated with the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, denied this claim at the time, calling it a "blatant lie." Başaran defended her words, stating, "I did not say this without having information and documents. I stand behind my story and I trust my source."

However, Özgür Özel also refuted Başaran at the extraordinary congress by having all the delegates take out their mobile phones. He reminded everyone that the delegates' phones were signaling to the same base station and that the day they were manufactured and the date they were purchased could be determined through their IMEI numbers.

As far as I can see, there has been no response from Başaran to Özel's words. So far, no data has emerged to confirm her statements. A journalist cannot make such an accusation by simply saying, "I trust my source"; the words of a source cannot be sufficient evidence to cast suspicion on a party and its delegates. Information obtained from a source can only become a news story if it has been verified by other sources.

I will also be watching; the investigation file will turn into a lawsuit and we will see the documents. If there is a concrete finding that 1,200 mobile phones, including "cold wallets," were distributed, then Özgür Özel and Murat Ongun should apologize. If not, then Nuray Başaran needs to apologize to the CHP and its delegates. Of course, it would then be mandatory for her to disclose the "source" that misled both her and the entire public.

It is not just the mobile phone issue. Cem Küçük, naming names, writes and says, "Pro-CHP journalists, don't you dare complain. It is known that most of you are profiting from the IMM." Even though he says "pro-CHP," he portrays the entire opposition media as if they are "receiving money from the IMM."

Moreover, he explicitly writes, "Of course, some have evidence, some do not." He has gone so far beyond the boundaries of journalistic ethics as to cast suspicion on people without any proof.

If that is the case, as Zafer Arapkirli also said, journalists should also declare their assets.

It is not just opposition journalists; pro-government journalists should also disclose their assets and sources of income. Let us all disclose them.

Cem Küçük, above all, should disclose his assets and sources of income so we can see.

They filtered out those sentences    

It is true, but incomplete, that US President Trump said during his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, 'I have a great relationship with a guy named Erdoğan. I like him, and he likes me.' Trump also said the following after those sentences:

'We went through a lot of things, but we never had a problem. As you recall, we got the pastor back from Turkey. Do you remember? That was a very big deal at the time.'

Yes, as citizens and journalists of this country, we remember the 'Pastor Brunson crisis.' In 2018, when Pastor Brunson, who was imprisoned in Turkey, was not released, Trump decided to impose sanctions on Turkey. When the dollar exchange rate skyrocketed, Erdoğan, who had previously said, 'As long as this soul is in this body and this poor person is in this office, you cannot take that terrorist (Pastor Brunson),' was forced to take a step back, and Brunson was hastily sent back to his home country.

Trump reminded everyone of this crisis, but except for Aydınlık, which ran the headline 'Pastor-related assurance from Trump to Israel,' the pro-government media did not want to remember; they did not include these sentences in their reports on the Trump-Netanyahu meeting, and instead boasted that 'Trump's praises are in the world press.' From Anadolu Agency to NTV, and from Hürriyet to Akşam, these sentences were absent from every pro-government media outlet. Some even filtered those sentences out later.

Incomplete reporting is misleading, but unfortunately, writing news this way has become an unchanging habit of the pro-government media. They showed almost no interest in Israel bombing the base where Turkey is preparing to settle. Trump's words were also missing from reports about Erdoğan's phone call last month. It was also unclear whether Erdoğan had brought up the Gaza issue.

Yeni Şafak's inconsistency regarding Haftar!

President Erdoğan used to call General Khalifa Haftar, who controls eastern Libya, an "ethnic cleanser and coup plotter." The pro-government media also referred to him as "Coup Plotter Haftar" and supported military initiatives toward Libya.

However, following President Erdoğan's visit to Egypt last year, there was a quiet shift regarding Libya; Turkey began developing friendly relations with Haftar. As a result, in April of last year, General Haftar's son, Belkacem Haftar, signed a new series of agreements with Turkish construction companies. In July, Belkacem Haftar also came to Ankara and met with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

Haftar's son, Saddam Khalifa, who serves as the Chief of Staff of the Ground Forces...

Haftar also came to Turkey a few days ago and met with Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler. Yeni Şafak published this meeting on April 4 with the headline, "Güler hosted the Libyan commander."

Yet, not long ago, just about three months prior on January 13, they published a report titled, "Haftar's Saydnaya: Torturing Libyan prisoners with Assad's officer." In that report, Khalifa Haftar was referred to as the "leader of illegitimate forces in eastern Libya."

But when the son of the "leader of illegitimate forces" came to Ankara, Yeni Şafak simply forgot about the "illegitimate forces"! Consistency is nowhere to be found... 

In a single sentence:

-TRT reported on the first hearing of the trial in which Ekrem İmamoğlu is a defendant, but while it conveyed the accusations, it did not broadcast a single sentence from İmamoğlu's defense.

-Sözcü, which addressed its readers who supported it against the penalty imposed by RTÜK on Sözcü TV by saying, "You stood by Sözcü: Thank you Turkey," did an injustice to other independent media groups by writing, "We are the only independent media group in this country."

-Yeni Şafak columnist İbrahim Karagül once again engaged in war-mongering by writing, "A Turkish-Israeli war is now inevitable. It will face a direct military response."

-Türkiye newspaper, in its report criticizing the light penalty given to a company whose chicken meatballs were found to contain bacteria under the headline "Heavy fault, light penalty," concealed the fact that this company was Şenpiliç.

-Trendyol took reporters from Akşam, Hürriyet, Milliyet, Nefes, Posta, Sabah, and Yeni Şafak on a trip to Budapest; in return, the company executive's press conference was reported as news.

-Following the decisions of US President Trump, the topic of "Will World War III break out between those countries? Who will strike first? The US or China?" was discussed for hours on CNN Türk.

-Karabük University Rector Prof. Dr. Fatih Kırışık visited the Yeni Akit newspaper and spoke about the second Sosyalfest 2025 they are planning to organize.

-While Sabah and Sözcü announced the news of the murder in Şişli, Istanbul, by saying, "Pregnant woman accidentally shot in double murder in Şişli," Hürriyet wrote, "An ex-lover turned out to be behind the murder."

- Hürriyet's report titled "There is insurance, but no coverage" omitted the names of the insurance company being complained about and the private hospital that treated the insured patient.

- Sabah, in its report "They gave patients high doses of radioactive material," failed to cite BirGün newspaper and Timur Soykan, who first broke the story.

- Milliyet, in its headline "Artificial intelligence for justice too," wrote "Typewriters are being phased out," but typewriters had already been phased out years ago; records were already being kept using computer keyboards.

- Yeni Şafak, in its report "Special operations officer took his own life," did not provide the information that the police officer committed suicide in front of the AKP Headquarters.

- Following the death of Palestinian journalist Hilmi al-Fakawi, who burned to death in an Israeli attack, some channels including TRT, Habertürk, NTV, CNN Türk, and TVNet, responding to the call by Press For Palestine, blacked out their screens for a period on the evening of April 8 in solidarity.

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