Hürriyet, the flagship newspaper of the Doğan Media Group, on Tuesday replaced its Washington, D.C., representative, Tolga Tanış, who came under fire by pro-government circles after his reporting on Turkey’s alleged raw materials supply to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Tanış, who has been the Washington representative of the paper for the last seven years, has been replaced by another Hürriyet reporter, Cansu Çamlıbel.
Pro-government “hitman” Cem Küçük praised the dismissal of Tanış and the appointment of Çamlıbel even before the decision was announced by the Doğan Media Group. Küçük warned the new Hürriyet representative and told her not to engage in anti-Turkish activities as her predecessor had done.
After praising Çamlıbel for her interviews in Hürriyet, Küçük wrote the following on his Twitter account: “Cansu Çamlıbel should not forget that a similar end awaits her if she engages in anti-Turkish activities.¨
Çamlıbel has been pursuing a line, just like the Doğan Media Group, in accordance with the government’s narrative on several issues in an effort to avoid further pressure.
In December, based on a report by the Conflict Armament Research (CAR) stating that Turkey is among countries which supply raw materials used in explosives by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Tanış, wrote that Turkey has been exporting potassium and ammonium nitrates to Syria in increasing amounts since the start of the civil war in 2011.
After presenting the findings of his investigation on Turkish exports to Syria based on information in the CAR report, titled “Tracing the Supply of Components Used in Islamic State IEDs” and released in February, Tanış wrote that since the exporting company and government institutions refused to provide further information, he could not continue to track the supply to Syria of potassium nitrate, which is used in the production of explosives.
Pro-government media outlets in Turkey targeted Tanış immediately after his report tracking Turkish supplies to ISIL appeared in Hürriyet.