Turkey coup plotters detained after taking Doğan journalists hostage

ISTANBUL

During the attempted military coup in the early hours of July 16, a group of soldiers entered the Doğan Media Center in Istanbul, which houses daily Hürriyet, the Hürriyet Daily News, broadcaster CNN Türk, and other Doğan media companies, briefly taking several journalists and other staff in the building hostage.
The 13 private soldiers and corporals, headed by middle-ranking soldiers, entered the headquarters in a helicopter.

The soldiers forcefully brought the Hürriyet and CNN Türk staff together, pointing rifles at them before evacuating them to the garden of the campus.

The soldiers then cut the broadcast and blocked the use of cell phones. 

The raid came just minutes before Hürriyet was due to go to print. The police then staged an operation inside the accented buildings, wounding their leader and detaining the others.

Many local civilians also rushed to the gates of the Doğan Media Center to protest against the soldiers and some managed to enter the building, many parts of which were damaged.

The station’s broadcast returned to the air within a few hours.

Only hours before the raid occurred, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had connected to CNN Türk via the FaceTime app to deliver a speech condemning the coup plot attempt.

CNN Türk News Chief Editor Ferhat Boratav has since said the raid could have turned into an “out of control” situation, stressing that if police did not play a “buffer role” even worse could have happened.