INSTANBUL: Turkish police on Tuesday raided the Istanbul headquarters of prominent pro-Kurdish television channel IMC TV, cutting all its transmissions in line with a previous shutdown order.

In dramatic scenes, police raided the headquarters of IMC TV and stopped broadcasts despite protests by staff who thronged the studio, its own live pictures showed. The channel was one of several outlets ordered to be shut down last week under Turkey’s controversial state of emergency. AFP </s> Istanbul: Turkish police on Tuesday raided the Istanbul headquarters of prominent pro-Kurdish television channel IMC TV, cutting all its transmissions while it was live on air.

In dramatic scenes, police raided the IMC TV headquarters and stopped broadcasts despite protests by staff who thronged the studio, its own live pictures showed.

The channel was one of several outlets ordered closed last week under Turkey’s controversial state of emergency imposed in the wake of the July 15 failed coup.

The state of emergency has since been extended by another three months from October 19.

The order has also affected 12 other television channels, which have been forced to cease their broadcasts on charges of links to groups deemed to threaten Turkey’s national security interests and support terror.

Besides being accused of supporting the July 15 coup, they are charged with broadcasting “terror propaganda” for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Activists have repeatedly warned that the state of emergency could be used for crackdowns beyond the coup suspects.

IMC TV’s management has rejected the accusations and called the order a “massive breach of freedom of speech and freedom of the press,” saying such actions have no place in a democracy.

It had already been taken off air by Turkey’s largest satellite operator on the grounds of broadcasting “terrorist propaganda”.

But the television broadcaster had remained on air until Tuesday through the Hotbird satellite and internet broadcasts.

Dozens of staff crowded the news studio in a final show of defiance before broadcasts were cut, chanting “free media will not be silenced” and applauding their management.

Images showed engineers from the authorities physically removing cables from the control room to ensure all broadcasts were cut.

Internet transmissions were subsequently disabled although viewers could still catch the channel’s final moments broadcast by the employees on their private Periscope accounts.

The closure has come at a time of growing concerns for press freedom in Turkey in the wake of the coup, with several prominent journalists under arrest.

IMC TV, which was founded in 2011, has a strong pro-Kurdish tilt but broadcasts in Turkish and also focuses on women’s, leftist and environmental issues. It has always denied being linked to any organisation. </s> The raid on Istanbul-based IMC TV, an opposition-affiliated, pro-Kurdish channel, came as the station was reporting on the government's closure of another television channel.

Turkish authorities cut IMC's transmission in the middle of the broadcast.

"Free media will not be silenced," IMC staff chanted as authorities entered the control room, ordering journalists to stop broadcasting scenes from the raid on their social media accounts.

IMC is one of the largest of the 20 television and radio stations ordered off air by Turkish authorities on Friday on the grounds that they broadcast "terrorist propaganda."

The networks were predominantly those affiliated with the country's Kurdish and Alevi minorities. IMC, a Turkish-language station, has previously broadcast reports on the conduct of Turkish security forces in their operations against the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. Turkey has been locked in a low-level conflict with the banned Kurdish separatist group for decades, and over the past year has weathered a string of bombings blamed on the group. Employees of IMC TV react to the police raid. Turkey declared a state of emergency in the wake of a failed coup on July 15, and has since pursued a sweeping purge , dismissing more than 81,000 people in various institutions -- including the armed forces, the police, the education system, the media and the judiciary -- who were perceived as opposed to the government. "We weren't only broadcasting about the Kurdish issue, we were a platform for all different voices," said journalist Banu Guven, a presenter on IMC. She accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of using the failed coup as a pretext to crack down on groups he opposed. "The decrees and the state of emergency became an excuse for Erdogan to silence us," Guven said. On Monday, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said the current state of emergency -- which allows the government to rule by decrees without seeking parliamentary approval -- would be extended for three more months. Nearly three months after the coup attempt, more than 12,000 police officers have been suspended for alleged links to the man Ankara accuses of masterminding the coup, Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen , state-run news agency Anadolu reported Tuesday. Turkey: The biggest issue for the next US president? Turkey: The biggest issue for the next US president? Of the 12,801 suspended police officers, 2,523 of them are ranking officers, Anadolu reports. Gulen, a reclusive cleric with a loyal following of supporters in Turkey and around the world, has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999. He has repeatedly denied any involvement in the July 15 uprising, which left 270 people dead, including 24 accused in the plot. Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen at his home in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. , in a move that sparked protests in a number of towns. , in a move that sparked protests in a number of towns. Alleged Gulenists were among 28 mayors dismissed by Turkey's government last month , in a move that sparked protests in a number of towns. Other dismissed mayors included those with alleged links to the banned PKK. Turkey has shut down more than 2,000 institutions linked to Gulen, whose movement has founded hundreds of secular co-ed schools, free tutoring centers, hospitals and relief agencies. </s> ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish authorities suspended nearly 13,000 police officers, detained dozens of air force officers and shut down a TV station on Tuesday, widening a state-ordered clampdown against perceived enemies in the wake of July’s failed coup.

A RTUK official (L) takes notes at the master control room of the IMC TV in Istanbul, Turkey, October 4, 2016. REUTERS/Huseyin Aldemir

The police headquarters said 12,801 officers, including 2,523 chiefs, were suspended because of their suspected links to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating the attempt to overthrow the government.

Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, denies any link to the coup attempt, which led to the deaths of more than 240 people.

The suspensions were ordered hours after Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus announced that the cabinet had approved a 90-day extension to a state of emergency, renewing President Tayyip Erdogan’s powers to govern by decree at least until January.

The emergency extension, which parliamentary is likely to wave through, means Erdogan can take decisions without oversight of the Constitutional Court, Turkey’s highest legal body.

As well as suspending five percent of the entire police force, the authorities detained 33 air force officers in raids across the country, the private Dogan news agency reported, and the transmission of TV station IMC was cut following accusations of spreading “terrorist propaganda”.

State-run Anadolu Agency said 37 people working in the Interior Ministry’s headquarters had also been removed from their posts, although no explanation was given.

Since the July 15 insurrection, Erdogan has taken steps to rid state institutions of staff deemed disloyal or potential enemies. About 100,000 people in the military, civil service, police, judiciary and universities have been sacked or suspended from their jobs, and 32,000 arrested.

The government says its aim is to rid institutions of links to Gulen, whose organization it calls a terrorist network.

One of the police officers suspended on Tuesday, a 26-year-old man, committed suicide by shooting himself in the head in a park in the Mediterranean city of Mersin, Dogan reported.

SYRIA OPERATIONS

The relentless crackdown has caused consternation among Turkey’s Western allies and human rights groups, who fear Erdogan is using the unsuccessful coup as a pretext to curtail any dissent, while at the same time intensifying his moves against suspected Kurdish militants and sympathizers.

On Tuesday evening, the armed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) attacked a Turkish military outpost in the predominantly Kurdish southeast, in Diyarbikar province, killing two soldiers and wounding three others, the local governor said.

“An attack has been made by the divisive terrorist organization on military personnel,” the governor’s office said in a statement, using the usual terminology to describe the PKK.

In August, Turkish forces launched an offensive into northern Syria in support of rebels fighting against Islamic State, creating a security corridor along the Turkey-Syria border that also appears designed to push Kurdish militia away.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday that the YPG Kurdish militia, which is backed by the United States, was filling a vacuum left by Islamic State and said Turkish forces were prepared to go after Kurdish fighters in the same way.

“We know how to cleanse the PYD/YPG, just as we cleansed Daesh from Jarablus,” he said, referring to Islamic State.

Ankara fears Kurdish militants fighting for greater autonomy in Turkey could benefit from turmoil in the region.

In a further sign of the government’s desire to move rapidly to quell domestic opposition, Yildirim said the judicial process needed to be speeded up, especially when it came to prosecuting those accused of backing the coup.

“One of the main goals is shortening the time it takes to prosecute people,” he said. “We are starting this with the July 15 coup plotters. We are doing this quickly.”

While Turkey cracks down at home and expands its footprint in Syria, it also wants the United States to extradite Gulen so he can be prosecuted on charges that he masterminded the failed insurrection.

Slideshow (2 Images)

On Sunday, Turkish counter-terrorism police detained Gulen’s brother in Izmir, where he was staying at a relative’s house. Several of Gulen’s relatives, including a nephew, niece and cousins, have been arrested since July 15.

Erdogan’s security clampdown may be bolstering his own authority but it has had economic repercussions, with credit ratings agencies downgrading the country’s debt to “junk” and the lira weakening against the dollar.

On Tuesday, Yildirim lowered the growth outlook for 2016, saying the economy was likely to expand 3.2 percent, well below an original 4.5 percent forecast, while inflation for the year is set to hit 7.5 percent. </s> DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The Iranian founder of a Farsi-language satellite television network was shot dead in Istanbul alongside a Kuwaiti business partner, Turkish media reported Sunday, just months after reportedly being convicted of spreading "propaganda" against the Islamic Republic. Gunmen opened fire on Saeed Karimian of GEM TV after cutting off his car with an SUV in Istanbul late Saturday night, Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper reported.

Start the conversation, or Read more at New York Daily News. </s> The inquiries are part of the "fight against terrorism, which continues with determination everywhere.

Turkey is investigating 10,000 people suspected of terror-related activity on the internet or posting comments on social media insulting government officials, the interior ministry said on Saturday.

The inquiries are part of the "fight against terrorism, which continues with determination everywhere, including on social networks", the ministry said in a statement.

After a coup attempt in July, Turkey declared a state of emergency and launched deep purges of perceived opponents, sparking concern among human rights groups which accuse Ankara of repression.

More than 1,600 people accused of "propaganda or apologising for terrorism" or "insulting state officials" have been arrested in the past six months, according to the ministry.

Turkish authorities are often accused of restricting access to social networks after serious incidents, such as attacks, to stop the circulation of information that could "undermine state security".

Access was severely disrupted after the assassination on Monday of Andrei Karlov, Russia’s ambassador to Turkey.

And Twitter and YouTube have slowed since the publication on Thursday of a video in which the Islamic State group purportedly burned alive two captured Turkish soldiers.

An internet monitoring body, Turkey Blocks, also reported difficulties accessing virtual private networks which are routinely used to circumvent restrictions on access to social networks or websites.

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Also, Like us on facebook </s> Turkey is investigating 10,000 people suspected of terror-related activity on the internet or posting comments on social media insulting government officials.

The inquiries are part of the “fight against terrorism”, which continues with determination everywhere, including on social networks.

After a coup attempt in July, Turkey declared a state of emergency and launched deep purges of perceived opponents, sparking concern among human rights groups which accuse Ankara of repression.

Turkish authorities are often accused of restricting access to social networks after serious incidents, such as attacks, to stop the circulation of information that could “undermine state security”.

Access was severely disrupted after the assassination on Monday of Andrei Karlov, Russia’s ambassador to Turkey . Twitter and YouTube have slowed since the publication on Thursday of a video in which the Islamic State group purportedly burned alive two captured Turkish soldiers.

Read more: Record number of journalists in jail globally after Turkey crackdown </s> The head of an Iranian satellite television network channel who last year was sentenced in absentia to six years in prison by a Tehran court was shot dead in Istanbul together with a business partner, Turkey's Dogan news agency said on Sunday. GEM TV founder Saeed Karimian and another Iranian were driving in Istanbul's Maslak neighborhood after 8 p.m. on Saturday when their car was stopped by a jeep and shots were fired, Dogan said.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Jerusalem Post. </s> VOA – Turkish media reports say the Iranian owner of a leading Farsi-language satellite television network has been shot dead in Istanbul, along with another man. Saeed Karimian, the owner of GEM TV, was gunned down late Saturday. The other man killed was reported to be a business partner. No motive for the killing is known. Based in Dubai, GEM TV dubs Turkish soap operas and other entertainment shows into Farsi and broadcasts them into Iran. Tehran has been critical of GEM TV and similar satellite channels, accusing them of trying to spread Western culture in the country.

Iranian media said Karimian had been convicted months of ago, in absentia, of spreading “propaganda” against the Islamic Republic.
Turkish security forces raid the headquarters of IMC TV in Istanbul, cutting its transmissions while it was live on air, for allegedly broadcasting "terror propaganda".