Scathing response from Türkgün to Yeni Şafak's headline: They have fallen out

The proposal for the leader of the terrorist organization PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, to be heard by a commission to be established in Parliament has sparked a debate among media outlets close to the People's Alliance. The pro-AKP newspaper Yeni Şafak reacted on its front page to MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli's proposal that 'the commission should hear Öcalan.'

In its headline titled 'The commission should not go to İmralı,' Yeni Şafak stated that citizens were also uncomfortable with the idea of Öcalan being heard by the commission. The newspaper's report included commentary suggesting that the 'Terror-free Turkey' process could be harmed.

CRITICISM ALSO CAME FROM THE PRO-GOVERNMENT TURKIYE NEWSPAPER

Following Yeni Şafak, similar reactions were expressed in another publication close to the government, the Türkiye newspaper. In his column today, the newspaper's writer Yücel Koç criticized the possibility of Öcalan being heard by the commission.

In his article, Koç stated, 'We have not forgotten Demirtaş's role in the trench-barricade incidents initiated to divide Turkey and the massacres committed under the pretext of Kobani. Öcalan is also the chief murderer of our thousands of martyrs. So, while our state has locked such dirty names behind iron bars, what is the meaning of these overtures?'

The MHP-affiliated newspaper Türkgün responded to Yeni Şafak's headline with a lead story. In its lead story titled 'What is your problem?', Türkgün accused Yeni Şafak of 'dealing a blow to a terror-free Turkey' and 'sabotaging the process.'

The report included the statement, 'Yeni Şafak wanted to deal a blow to a terror-free Turkey and was disgraced by its own archives.' The newspaper pointed to the contradiction by recalling Yeni Şafak's headlines from 2009.

ALLEGATION OF 'ATTEMPTING TO SABOTAGE THE PROCESS'

In Türkgün's report, it was claimed that Yeni Şafak had undergone a radical change in its editorial policy. The report stated, 'Yeni Şafak, which attempted to hit the AK Party through the economy, is now playing its new card through a "Terror-free Turkey." It tried to sabotage the process by putting forward a survey of 1,100 people.'

PAST HEADLINES RECALLED

Recalling Yeni Şafak's past editorial line, Türkgün stated, 'The newspaper, which organized campaigns for the success of the process in 2009, is now displaying the exact opposite attitude.'

The report recalled that at that time, Yeni Şafak ran the headline 'Join this call too' with the sub-headline 'Time for dialogue, reconciliation, and friendship,' and supported the process with reports titled 'The guns have fallen silent, it is time for peace.'