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Report: Turkey Launches Probe Into Dogan Media


A group of people stage a protest outside the Hurriyet newspaper in Istanbul, Turkey, late Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015.
A group of people stage a protest outside the Hurriyet newspaper in Istanbul, Turkey, late Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015.

Turkish prosecutors have launched an investigation into Dogan Media Group for alleged "terrorism propaganda", the Anadolu Agency reported on Tuesday, in a move highlighting the hazards facing media critical of government policy.

The reported investigation comes just days after offices of one Dogan newspaper, the mass circulation Hurriyet, was attacked by pro-government mobs who have accused it of sympathizing with the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Anadolu said the investigation had been launched following a complaint against Dogan from a pro-government newspaper, which cited the publication of uncensored photographs of dead Turkish soldiers and an interview with someone who later joined the PKK.

No one was immediately available for comment at Dogan. Such backlash over criticism of government policy, as well as President Tayyip Erdogan's frequent battles with the media, have helped to drive NATO member Turkey towards the bottom of global press freedom rankings.

Scores of people have been investigated on accusations of insulting Erdogan, who has become increasingly intolerant of criticism in recent years.

Turkish police raided a magazine on Monday over a mocked-up "selfie" of a smiling President Tayyip Erdogan with the coffin of a soldier - an allusion to comments that families of soldiers killed by Kurdish rebels could be happy about their martyrdom.

Dogan Media is a unit of Turkish conglomerate Dogan Holding.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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