Nevşin Mengü , a journalist critical of the government who used to work for Turkish broadcaster CNN Türk, has said she was fired from the TV station upon an order from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkish media reports said on Wednesday.
Mengü announced her departure in September 2017 from CNN Türk, where she used to present the evening news. At the time CNN Türk was owned by the Doğan Media Group, the largest media company in Turkey. The group was later sold to the pro-government Demirören Group.
During a program on the TV 5 satellite station on Wednesday, Mengü was asked whether she had willingly parted ways with CNN Türk and started to work for Deutsche Welle’s Turkish service.
In response she said President Erdoğan sent a message to the then-owner of CNN Türk, Aydın Doğan, ordering her dismissal from the station. Mengü also noted that the then-editor-in-chief of the Hürriyet daily, Fikret Bila, could confirm this because he was on Erdoğan’s plane when Erdoğan ordered that Mengü be fired.
Erdoğan is criticized for tightening his grip on critical journalists and media outlets in the country. Thousands of journalists have lost their jobs, while dozens of them have been jailed due to their critical stance since a failed coup attempt in Turkey in July 2016.