Taraf

On July 27, 2016, the newspaper was closed under a statutory decree during the state of emergency after the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt, due to its links with the coup plotters' Gülen movement. Taraf has published a series of highly-controversial stories that revealed the involvement of the Turkish military in daily political affairs. The revealed documents, such as coup plans that involved the bombing of historical mosques in Turkey ("Sledgehammer" coup plan) and bombing of a museum (Operation Cage Action Plan), significantly damaged the social image of the Turkish military. The sources that leaked such critical insider information to Taraf are still unknown. The response of the Turkish military to Taraf included canceling the newspaper's accreditation from press releases at its headquarters. A political journal, Nokta, had similarly published leaked military information (Sarıkız, Ayışığı, Yakamoz and Eldiven) and was closed down in 2007 due to pressure. The founder and owner of Taraf, Başar Arslan, dismisses accusations of bias and outside funding, saying that he has made a considerable loss in his mission to create what he calls the country's most prestigious newspaper.