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Turkey carried out the largest single purge of its armed forces since the failed July 15 takeover and shut down a total of 131 media organizations allegedly linked to the U.S.-based cleric it accuses of orchestrating it, Fethullah Gulen.
The media organisations include:
- 45 newspapers
- 29 publishers
- 3 news agencies
- 23 radio stations
- 16 TV channels
- 15 magazines
The mass-circulation Zaman newspaper, which had already been seized by the government, was among them. The decisions were published late Wednesday in the Official Gazette.
Since the failed coup incident, Turkey has sacked at least 60,000 workers from jobs in the security services, judiciary, Finance Ministry and schools in a widespread crackdown on alleged followers of Gulen.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been accusing Gulen of trying to overthrow him since 2013. He is seeking to extradite him from the U.S. to stand trial in Turkey.