Turkish President Erdoğan ‘closely following’ judicial process against Fethullah Gülen movement

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he is closely following the operation launched on Dec. 14 targeting some members of the Fethullah Gülen movement, including two top executives of media groups close to the U.S.-based Islamic scholar, while he has also slammed international organizations for voicing concerns over media freedom in Turkey.

“Everything is being done according to the laws, nobody is being lynched before the process is over, a clean process is ongoing now,” Erdoğan said speaking at a meeting of the Board of Foreign Economic Relations (DEÄ°K) on Dec. 20. 

An Istanbul court ordered on Dec. 19 the arrest of four of the 12 suspects, including Samanyolu Media Group head Hidayet Karaca; Tufan Ergüder, the former head of the Istanbul Police Department’s anti-terror branch, who were detained in a Dec. 14 police operation on media groups linked to Gülen.

Eight suspects, including Zaman Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı, have been released. The court, however, imposed a travel ban on Dumanlı.

Also, an arrest warrant was issued for Fethullah Gülen, who is on a self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, on charges of leading a terrorist organization.

Karaca was arrested on charges of founding a terrorist organization while the other three are charged with being a member of the organization, reports said.

Erdoğan slammed local and international critics who voiced their concerns after two journalists were detained when their headquarters were raided by the police.

“They launched a campaign arguing that the media is silenced after this process started,” said Erdoğan.

“The EU issued a statement during a holiday. How sensitive they are to what happens in this country. From...