Taraf newspaper columnist Amberin Zaman received a death threat over Twitter after the release of her article entitled “ISIS will kidnap journalist in Turkey”.
Twitter closed the account after its user wrote the following: “I will chop you, infidel.”
Zaman said that she received a phone call from a western embassy in Ankara and was warned to be careful if she ever planned to travel to the [Syrian] border.
“Especially, the danger is great nearby Suruç district,” the diplomat allegedly warned her.
“The western media workers are at great risk,” the diplomat told her.
Released on October 22, the latest bianet media monitoring report confirms that threats against journalists are still valid in Turkey.
According to the report, 21 journalists and 1 local newspaper publishing facility were attacked in the period of July-September 2014.
In addition to that, 1 news website was blocked, 2 online newspaper headquarters were raided by the police, 4 journalists were verbally assaulted and 3 journalists and 2 newspapers received threats.
The report also mentioned of a letter that included assassination plots against Taraf newspaper columnist Murat Belge and T24 columnist Aydın Engin.
In August, then-PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan targeted Amberin Zaman a reported affiliated with The Economist.
“Know your limits, nasty woman,” Erdoğan told Amberin Zaman. (EÖ/BM)
* Click here to read the article in Turkish.