Yılmaz Özdil controversy grows: Fatih Altaylı slams CHP! 'How are you any different from the AK Party?'

The controversy surrounding journalist Yılmaz Özdil, who left Sözcü following recent polemics with CHP figures, continues.

Journalist Fatih Altaylı criticized the CHP regarding Özdil's resignation in a section titled "This resignation was not pleasant at all" in an article published on his own website.

Asking, "Do not mess with journalists. How are you any different from the AK Party when you do this? Is it right to defend freedom of the press and expression on one hand, while targeting a journalist on the other?" Altaylı continued as follows: 

"There you go, you have earned the title of a party administration that gets journalists fired or forces them to resign for no reason. If you see this as a show of strength, I wouldn't know, but it was not right at all.

Yet, even if you had not intervened, such a development might have occurred anyway. Because readers and viewers were already using their consumer power to react to the Sözcü group. The channel's viewership ratings were falling. The newspaper was losing readers. The television station would have been forced to change direction or lose its influence. Advertising revenues would have fallen because it was not being watched. Yılmaz Özdil would have also reviewed his editorial policy. By intervening, the CHP both harmed itself and created the impression that it has not internalized its principles, while also damaging the freedom of the press it claims to defend."

At the end of his column, Altaylı included the remarks, "I hope the CHP has learned a lesson from this mistake. I hope Yılmaz Özdil also remains at his post."

News Source: 12punto