[updates below]
Justin Vela, an Istanbul-based journalist, has a very good piece in Foreign Policy on the increasing repression against journalists in Turkey and the link with the Fethullah Gülen movement, which now looks to be replacing the military as Turkey’s “deep state” (for background see here, here, and here). Between Tayyip Erdoğan’s authoritarian drift and the tentacles of the Gülen movement, democracy is increasingly at risk in Turkey. An awareness of what’s happening there finally seems to be dawning in the US and Europe.
(The above photo is of journalists Mehmet Baransu, Nedim Şener, and Ahmet Şık, who have been caught up in the judicial witch-hunt in the Ergenekon Affair. The header caption translates as “He deciphered the real culprits.”)
UPDATE: There’s an article in the Fall 2011 issue of Middle East Report on “Media Wars and the Gülen Factor in the New Turkey,” by Joshua D. Hendrick (for the full text in PDF, see here).
2nd UPDATE: Kaya Genç, a novelist and commentator, says that it’s “Time for Turkey to question its militarist culture.”
3rd UPDATE: The pro-Gülen Istanbul daily Today’s Zaman has an op-ed on “Foreign Policy’s emotional and biased journalism on Turkey,” by İhsan Yılmaz. (January 15)
4th UPDATE: The New York Times has an article on the Gülen movement: “Turkey Feels Sway of Reclusive Cleric in the U.S.” (April 24)
5th UPDATE: Former Istanbul-based journalist Nicholas Birch has an article in The Majallah on “Turkey’s Biggest Export: The many problems of Fethullah Gulen.” (May 15)
for folks with a MER sub, Josh Hendrick on the Gülen movement is also excellent. http://merip.org/mer/mer260/media-wars-gulen-factor-new-turkey
Thanks Ted. I’ve linked to the article in the update.