THAT’S WHAT PURGES ARE FOR: How Erdogan’s Purge Is Making Turkish Journalists Think Twice.

A Turkish journalist who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Kavala’s arrest is intended to “sustain the fear.”

“The arrests fall into several categories,” he explains: “Those who were arrested right after the coup attempt, on the basis of information that directly tied them to the coup; those who were arrested in the second wave so as to eliminate Gulen’s influence in the government, the courts, the police and the army; and those who are being arrested now, in order to snuff out any desire to criticize the regime.”

He points to the coverage of the recent arrests by journalists who are considered supporters of the opposition, noting the tepid language that is being used.

“Everything is written carefully and cautiously, for fear that tomorrow the writer will be arrested or summoned for questioning. Suddenly, you see cultural events being given more prominence than political events. Opinion pieces have become highly generalized and refrain from naming specific people as being responsible for anything, and the images are also no longer news-related,” the journalist observed.

Democracy dies in bland conformity.