AKP reacts to Kılıçdaroğlu's Sözcü TV broadcast! Journalists in the crosshairs

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who was brought to the CHP Chairmanship by a decision of absolute nullity, answered questions from Barış Terkoğlu, Senem Toluay Ilgaz, and Aslı Kurtuluş Mutlu on Sözcü TV last night.

The AKP camp reacted to the broadcast in question. Claiming that the broadcast and the journalists were not independent, Ünal stated, "The picture we watched on Sözcü TV revealed a media practice that speaks with the language of forced affiliation rather than an independent journalistic stance. Asking questions is one thing, but trying to condemn the interlocutor to one's own opinion is another. An attitude that threatens to keep asking until they get the answer they want is not journalism."

Here is the post shared by Ünal on his X account:

"The most fundamental claim of those who have classified the media in Turkey as “pro-government and independent” for years was that a journalist should be independent. However, today we see that what they call independence was actually a cover for their forced dependencies. The picture we watched on Sözcü TV revealed a media practice that speaks with the language of forced affiliation rather than an independent journalistic stance. Asking questions is one thing, but trying to condemn the interlocutor to one's own opinion is another. An attitude that threatens to keep asking until they get the answer they want is not journalism. A journalist is someone who seeks answers, not someone who imposes them. Media is public to the extent that it opens space for ideas.

The moment it produces forced affiliation for individuals, it loses its public character and turns into an apparatus. This is exactly what is happening today. The fact that those who accused others of “being pro-government” yesterday cannot maintain the same critical distance when it comes to defending those whose thefts have been exposed with all evidence shows that the issue is not principled, but conjunctural. The most dangerous thing is the normalization of this. Because echo chambers are not only built in politics; the media also builds its own echo chamber.

In an order where the same sentences are repeated, the same opinions are circulated, and the legitimacy of different voices is rejected from the outset, truth gives way to collective approval. Truth requires the morality of being able to look at everyone from the same distance in every period."

The most fundamental claim of those who have classified the media in Turkey as “pro-government and independent” for years was that a journalist should be independent. However, today we see that what they call independence was actually a cover for their forced dependencies.

The picture we watched on Sözcü TV revealed a media practice that speaks with the language of forced affiliation rather than an independent journalistic stance…

— Mahir Ünal ???? (@mahirunal) June 19, 2026

News Source: 12punto