German edition of Erdogan-critical newspaper goes out of print

The German print edition of the Gulenist newspaper Zaman appeared for the last time on Wednesday after headquarters in Turkey were shut down as part of a crackdown on dissent by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The German version of Zaman, which catered to Germany's large Turkish diaspora population, was borne out of the political movement associated with US-based Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom the Turkish government blames for a failed coup attempt in July.

Suleyman Bag, a columnist at the newspaper, told journalists that Erdogan was conducting a "witch hunt" against those associated with the publication and that advertising revenues had dwindled after the coup attempt.

He added that the German version of the paper, founded in 1990 in Offenbach but based in Berlin since 2011, got 70 percent of its content from Zaman's Turkish operation. The newspaper employed seven German journalists and had a circulation of 8,000 copies. A PDF version of the newspaper will be available until the end of the year, Bag said.    (dpa)

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