Last month, a presenter on the Islamist Akit TV said on air that the staff of the daily Cumhuriyet, a vocal government critic, deserved to be “slaughtered.” Another
Akit TV presenter, infuriated by claims of civilian casualties in
Turkish military operations in northern Syria, said, “If we were to kill
civilians, we would have started in Cihangir, Nisantasi and Etiler,”
referring to Istanbul neighborhoods considered bastions of secularism.
He added, “There are so many traitors.
There is the Turkish Grand National Assembly,” referring to opposition
lawmakers in parliament. Prosecutors have launched an investigation into
the presenter.
