Abdullah Bozkurt

Abdullah Bozkurt
Bozkurt in 2016
Born	1971 Balıkesir, Turkey
Occupation	Journalist

Abdullah Bozkurt (born 1971) is a Turkish journalist. He was the bureau chief for the Gülen-aligned newspaper Today's Zaman.^[1]

Biography

Bozkurt started his work in journalism with the newspaper Zaman. He worked as the New York Bureau Chief and Washington Representative of Zaman Newspaper. Afterwards, he continued the same work for the newspaper Today's Zaman.

In 2011, Bozkurt defended the imprisonment of journalists in the Ergenekon investigation stating that journalists like Ahmet Şık were not being an investigative journalist conducting "independent research", but was hatching "a plot designed and put into action by the terrorist network itself".^[2]

Bozkurt has lived outside Turkey since the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt. In Turkey, he has a warrant out for his arrest stemming from allegations of membership in the Gülen movement,^[3][4][5] which the Turkish government considers to be a terrorist group.^[6] Terrorism charges are frequently used by the Turkish government against dissident journalists.^[7][8][9] In June 2020, a segment on the private television station TGRT Haber called for Bozkurt to be "exterminated".^[10][11]

In Sweden, Bozkurt created the Nordic Research & Monitoring Network (or Nordic Monitor), of which he is the director.^[12]

See also

• Gülen movement
• Turkey's media purge after the failed July 2016 coup d'état

References

1. Lowen, Mark (29 July 2016). "Who are the Gulenists?". BBC News. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
2. Article of 29 March 2011 Archived 1 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine; accessed on 5 April 2011
3. Erbay, Nur Özkan (6 January 2020). "How does FETÖ's mouthpiece in Sweden generate fake news?". Daily Sabah. Retrieved 21 June 2020. Bozkurt has a warrant out for his arrest stemming from his FETÖ membership
4. Hatip, Yusuf (10 December 2017). "FETO fugitive complains of Turkish anti-Israel protests". aa.com.tr. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
5. "Suspected members of FETO terror group allowed to spread propaganda at UN". TRT World. 6 March 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
6. "Turkey officially designates Gulen religious group as terrorists". Reuters. 31 May 2016. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
7. Costa-Kostritsky, Valeria (1 July 2016). "We are journalists, not terrorists: How reporters around Europe are being silenced by accusations that their work threatens national security". Index on Censorship. 45 (2): 11–14. doi:10.1177/0306422016657010. ISSN 0306-4220.
8. "Turkey's Press Freedom Crisis". Committee to Protect Journalists. 1 October 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
9. "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Turkey". United States Department of State. 2019. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
10. Bekdil, Burak (30 July 2020). "Paradoxical Turkey". Middle East Forum. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
11. Antonopoulos, Paul (5 June 2020). "Turkish Television Program Calls For The Country's Intelligence Agency To Kill Journalists". Greek City Times. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
12. Benakis, Theodoros (22 July 2018). "Abdullah Bozkurt: Erdogan has built a new Berlin wall all around Turkey". European Interest. Retrieved 26 March 2020.