Nokta

Nokta ("Point" in Turkish) was a leading Turkish weekly political news magazine. Founded in 1983, it was closed down by its owner in 2007 under military pressure after revealing several coup plots.[1] Revived in 2015, it was closed again in the course of the 2016–17 Turkish purges.

Nokta
Frequencyweekly
First issue1 March 1982
Final issue2016
CountryTurkey
LanguageTurkish
ISSN1301-613X
OCLC10805922

Contributors to Nokta included Ayşe Arman, Can Dündar and Ahmet Şık.

History and profile
See also: Sarıkız, Ayışığı, Yakamoz and Eldiven

The magazine was launched by Ercan Arıklı on 1 March 1982 as Nokta ve İnsanlar.[2] It became Nokta in 1983. The magazine had a liberal and progressive stance during the Ercan Arıklı period[3] and In 1989 it was the highest-circulation news weekly in Turkey, ahead of 2000'e Doğru.[4]

In March 2007, Nokta ran a story, written by its Editor in Chief, Ahmet Alper Görmüş, revealing a confidential campaign of the military blacklisting some journalists and press organs, based on a leaked report prepared by the Office of the Chief of General Staff categorizing journalists as "trustworthy" (pro military) and "untrustworthy" (anti military).[5] While the military acknowledged the existence of such a list, they declared that the version published by Nokta was "only a draft".[6] The newspaper Sabah said that Nokta's report does not conform to the format used by the military.[7]

Later that month, Nokta published excerpts of a diary, allegedly written by admiral Özden Örnek, a former navy commander.[6] Following the publication, the magazines offices were raided by the police in a three-day operation.[8] The diary detailed two plans for a military coup, both by the commanders of the army (Aytaç Yalman), navy (Özden Örnek) and the air force (İbrahim Fırtına), together with the gendarmerie chief (Şener Eruygur), and aiming to overthrow the AK Party government in 2004.[9]

Subsequently, its owner, Ayhan Durgun, discontinued the publication.[6] Görmüş joined the daily Taraf,[10] where he criticized journalists who were aware of the diaries for not revealing them.[11]

In 2007, the now-defunct weekly published portions of a diary purportedly belonging to the retired admiral Özden Örnek, indicating that three coup plans were prepared: Sarıkız (blonde girl; idiomatic for 'cow'), Ayışığı (moonlight), and Eldiven (glove).[12][13] Admiral Örnek himself called the diary a forgery.[14] The Armed Forces has prevaricated on this issue without denying its authenticity altogether.[15] For his part, general Hurşit Tolon said he found no reason to object to the publication of the diaries since it contained no false statements about him.[16] The diary was not used as evidence in the 2455 page indictment.

The diary agrees with minutes of the meeting on which the diary was based. The minutes were found in the home of retired captain Muzaffer Yıldırım who, along with Tolon and Eruygur, was detained in the frame of an investigation into a conspiratorial organization named "Ergenekon".[9] On this basis, it has been claimed that the diaries are authentic.[17]

These excerpts were later cited as key evidence in the March 2009 indictment of a round of suspects, including retired generals Eruygur and Tolon, arrested in the course of the ongoing investigations into the alleged illegal Ergenekon organization and charged with plotting to overthrow the legal government of the Republic of Turkey.[18]

2015 Revival
The satirical cover of a September 2015 edition of weekly Nokta Magazine criticised Erdogan for inciting and exploiting the conflict and its casualties for personal political PR purposes. Erdogan had the edition banned and the entire circulation confiscated for allegedly "insulting" him.

In 2015 Ramazan Köse revived the magazine.

Due to a satirical cover image critical of Recep Tayyip Erdogan for inciting and exploiting the conflict and its casualties for personal political PR purposes, the magazine was raided by the police and its 18. edition in September 2015 was banned and the entire circulation confiscated for allegedly "insulting" Erdogan.

The magazine was closed in July 2016.[19] In May 2017, its last editor-in-chief Murat Çapan was sentenced to over 22 years in jail for allegedly "inciting an armed uprising against the Turkish government" and was arrested while attempting to flee to neighboring Greece.[20]

See also

References
  1. Owner of now-defunct Nokta magazine Durgun: We did a historic job Today's Zaman, 28 September 2009.
  2. Emin Akdağ (5 July 2004). "Darbe ile başladı, değişimle noktalandı". Aksiyon (in Turkish). 500. Archived from the original on 16 December 2005. Retrieved 23 September 2008.
  3. Doğan Gürpınar (2012). "The Trajectory of Left-Liberalism in Turkey and Its Nemesis: The Great Rupture in the Turkish Left" (PDF). Insight Turkey. 14 (1): 147–168. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  4. Lois Whitman, Thomas Froncek (1989) Paying the Price: Freedom of Expression in Turkey. Human Rights Watch, 1989. pp. 30-2
  5. E. Baris Altintas, Ercan Yavuz (9 March 2007). "New military media scandal exposed". Today's Zaman. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2007.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  6. "Magazine that revealed 'coups' ends publication". Today's Zaman. 21 April 2007. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  7. Metehan Demir (11 March 2007). "Medya andıcı korsan çıktı". Sabah (in Turkish). Retrieved 17 November 2008.
  8. "Nokta magazine raided by police". Turkish Daily News. 14 April 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  9. Mavioglu, Ertugrul (15 November 2008). "2003 was a year of coup plans, shows report". Turkish Daily News. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
  10. Medyaironik, Taraf.
  11. Ahmet Alper Görmüş (4 July 2008). "Nokta Günlükler'i bosuna yayimlamis! Gazeteciler zaten her seyi biliyormus!". Taraf (in Turkish). Retrieved 4 September 2008.
  12. Alaz Kuzeyri (2 July 2008). "Ümraniye'den Sarıkız'a". Taraf (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 18 April 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2008.
  13. Ahmet Alper Görmüş (29 March 2007). "Geçmiş günler, geçmemiş gündemler". Nokta (in Turkish). 22: 4–7.
  14. Ismet Berkan (1 July 2008). "Sarıkız ve Ayışığı'nı hatırlayalım". Radikal (in Turkish). Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  15. Ahmet Alper Görmüş. "Üç Genelkurmay belgesi, üç farklı tepki". Taraf]date=27 June 2008 (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 9 August 2008. Retrieved 4 September 2008.
  16. Kurt, Nurettin (8 July 2008). "Arşivinde Yaşar Paşa belgeleri". Hürriyet (in Turkish). Retrieved 15 November 2008. Kamuoyunda darbe günlükleri olarak bilinen günlüklerde benimle ilgili kısımlarda herhangi bir yanlışlık görmediğim için bu konuda tekzip yapma ihtiyacı hissetmedim. Çünkü herhangi bir şekilde kişilik haklarım zedelenmemişti.
  17. Baransu, Mehmet; Kuseyri, Alas (26 March 2008). "Darbe belgelendi". Taraf (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 18 April 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2008.
  18. Birch, Nicholas (25 March 2009). "Turkish Court Indicts 56 on Coup Charges". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 25 March 2009.
  19. "Kapatılan televizyonlar ve gazeteler belli oldu!". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 28 July 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  20. "Former editor of Turkish news magazine arrested trying to flee to Greece". Hurriyet Daily News. 25 May 2017.
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