The United Kingdom’s National Union of Journalists (NUJ) issued a message of solidarity with Zaman after the Istanbul court appointed a government board of trustees to take over the management of the daily newspaper.
“We are deeply concerned about the increased pressure being put on independent journalism either through the use of terrorism laws against journalists, the abuse of pre-trial detention by the authorities or attacks on media companies themselves to put them out of business.
“This has also led to a climate of fear and self-censorship among some journalists,” the NUJ statement ran.
Amnesty International called the seizure of the Zaman newspaper is the latest deeply troubling episode in Turkey’s crackdown on dissenting media.
“By lashing out and seeking to rein in critical voices, President Erdogan’s government is steam rolling over human rights,” said Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International’s Turkey expert.