Arrest warrants issued for 42 journalists in Turkey

Risingbd Desk: Turkey`s authorities have issued detention warrants for 42 journalists, local media say, as part of an inquiry into the failed coup on 15 July.

Prominent commentator Nazli Ilicak is said to be on the list. Ankara has not publicly commented on the claim.

The authorities have already detained or placed under investigation thousands of soldiers, judges and civil servants.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to purge state bodies of the "virus" he says caused the revolt.

It is unclear whether any of the journalists on the list have already been detained.

The closure of several media outlets was ordered in the days following the attempted coup, but this is the first time that individual journalists have been identified, the BBC`s Nick Thorpe in Istanbul reports.

The most prominent of the 42 is 72-year-old Nazli Ilicak.

She was fired from the pro-government Sabah daily three years ago for criticising government ministers who are under investigation for alleged corruption.

The Turkish government accuses cleric Fethullah Gulen of being behind the attempted coup which was led by the army.

Mr Gulen, who lives in the US, has strongly denied any involvement.

In a separate development on Monday, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned that negotiations for Turkey`s eventual membership of the EU would be suspended immediately if Ankara went ahead with a proposal to reintroduce the death penalty.

Source: agencies

risingbd/Dhaka/July 25, 2016/Nasim