Ahval

Ahval is an Emirati-funded online news website that solely reports on Turkey. The site was launched in 2017.[1] Turkish journalist Yavuz Baydar is the current editor and Turkish journalist İlhan Tanır is the chief of the English desk.[2] The name Ahval means "events" and is a Turkish Arabism derivation from "ahwal".[3]

Ahval
Type of site
Digital Media
Available inEnglish, Arabic, Turkish
EditorYavuz Baydar
URLahvalnews.com
CommercialYes
Launched2017
Content license
Copyright

In February 2018, Ahval was blocked by the Turkish government for users in Turkey.[4] In an interview with observatoireturquie.fr, Baydar stated that the site has 230,000 daily visitors.[5]

Talking to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, Baydar said that the creation of Ahval aimed "to fill a gap caused by media bans and self-censorship in Turkey."[6]

Ownership

The website is owned by Ahval News Ltd, which is based in Cyprus.[7] According to Qantara.de Ahval are financially supported by London media organisation "Al Arab", who are subsidized by the United Arab Emirates. Qantara criticised Ahval's Arabic language service for not being as neutral as its English language version.[3] Baydar responded to claims about Ahval's funding by saying "whatever your financier, what matters is independence. When I worked in England, at the BBC World Service, it was never a problem for me to have this institution partially funded by the London government."[8] The Turkish government claims that Ahval is used as a counter-propaganda tool against Turkey’s president.[9]

Criticism

Ahval has been accused of having links to the Gülen movement.[10][11][12] Editor-in-chief Yavuz Baydar, who left Turkey following the 2016 coup attempt,[13] had prosecution cases opened against him in Turkey in 2016 on charges of ties to the Gülen movement.[14][15]

In October 2018, the 27th High Criminal Court in Istanbul requested Interpol issue a red notice for Ilhan Tanır on charges of being a member of the Gülen movement.[16][17][18] Tanir, currently head of Ahval's English desk, and Cumhuriyet's Washington correspondent at the time, denies these links.[19] Editor Ergun Babahan is also accused of being a follower of Fethullah Gulen.[20]

Yavuz Baydar denies that the site has any affiliation with Gülen.[21] He states that "We are not the mouthpiece of any interest group nor are we part of any activist movement."[1] Ahval has published critical commentary on Gülen's movement by authors like Nick Ashdown and Gökhan Bacık. Bacık had left the Gülen movement and "started writing critical and highly informative pieces on both the Gülen movement and Islamic conservatism."[22] Turkish journalist Cengiz Candar, writing for al-Monitor, noted that "Police raids of residences have targeted many linked to the failed coup. But to associate Baydar with the coup is impossible."[23]

Bias in Arabic version

The Arabic version of Ahval is criticized for not demonstrating political neutrality on topics regarded as sensitive subjects by the regimes in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates such as the Muslim Brotherhood. An example is a piece by Al-Arab journalist Hisham al-Nagar which did not appear in the English and Turkish versions. In the article, the Egyptian journalist tried to associate President Erdogan with Islamist terrorism.[3]

References
  1. "Ahval, an independent news source on Turkey, makes debut". AW. 11 May 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  2. Solmaz, Mehmet (6 December 2017). "UAE's unending Turkey war: Now the Zarrab case and Ahval News". Daily Sabah. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  3. Croitoru, Joseph. "Hardly politically neutral". Qantara.de. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  4. "Turkey bans access to critical Ahval news website". Observatorio Electoral (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-05-11.
  5. "Le journal Ahval. Un phénomène du journalisme turc en ligne?". Observatoire de la Turquie Contemporaine. 2020-02-16. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
  6. Schlötzer, Christiane. "Türkische Journalisten - Die Lücke im Land". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 2020-05-23.
  7. "Search Results". Cyprus Ministry of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  8. "Le journal Ahval. Un phénomène du journalisme turc en ligne?". Observatoire de la Turquie Contemporaine. 2020-02-16. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
  9. Çandar, Cengiz (22 December 2017). "Turkey-UAE rift may have unintended spillover". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  10. "Turkey summons US diplomat over a Twitter 'like'". Al Araby. 6 October 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2020. ... Ahval, a UAE-funded news site accused of links to Gulen.
  11. "FETÖ haber sitesine Körfez'den sponsor bulundu". Aydinlik (in Turkish). 12 December 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  12. Ereli, Gokhan (10 March 2020). "How the UAE's Lobbying Instrument Works Abroad". The New Turkey. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  13. "Yavuz Baydar". Festival Internazionale del Giornalismo. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  14. "Bu adamların İşçi Partisi toplantısında ne işi var". OdaTV (in Turkish). 26 September 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2020. FETÖ suçlamasıyla yakalama kararı bulunan sol karşıtı Yavuz Baydar da konuşmacı olarak yer aldı.
  15. "Dozens of journalists named as terrorists and spies in criminal probe in Turkey". Nordic Monitor. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2020. Dozens of Turkey’s leading journalists and academics were the subject of criminal investigations on fabricated allegations of terrorism and accused of working on behalf of foreign governments
  16. TM. "Turkish court requests Interpol Red Notice for journalists Dündar and Tanır - Turkish Minute". Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  17. SCF (2018-10-16). "Turkish court requests red notices for journalists Can Dündar and İlhan Tanır". Stockholm Center for Freedom. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  18. Wed, Oct 24th 2018 1:48pm-Tim Cushing. "Interpol Alert Issued By Turkey For Exiled Journalists President Erdogan Wants To Toss In Jail". Techdirt. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  19. Tanir, Ilhan (24 November 2018). "The false claims, allegations and gossip that make up Turkey's evidence against me". Ahval. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  20. "Turkey summons US diplomat over a Twitter 'like'". alaraby. 6 October 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  21. "Le journal Ahval. Un phénomène du journalisme turc en ligne?". Observatoire de la Turquie Contemporaine. 2020-02-16. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
  22. thevoid13 (2018-11-05). "The freedom of the press". The Void. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
  23. Çandar, Cengiz (2016-09-01). "What's next for Turkey's journalists following post-coup crackdown?". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
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