The jailings are the most obvious example of a thorough effort to muzzle not just the free press, but free speech generally. “There is no more critical journalism, 90 percent of the free press is destroyed directly or indirectly,” Mr. Onderoglu said. But the sweeping emergency powers granted to Mr. Erdogan after the failed military coup against him, by supporters of the exiled Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, have greatly accelerated the crackdown. Recently, a wiretap of a phone call between Mr. Erdogan and Erdogan Demiroren, the owner of the Milliyet newspaper, was posted on YouTube. Mr. Erdogan denounces “this disgraceful, dishonest, vile man who puts a headline and wants to sabotage this process.” No one has challenged the tape’s authenticity.

Source: New York Times November 17, 2016 10:40 UTC