Which topic makes Erdog(an most furious at the media

Hurriyet Daily News 3 July 2012
By Sedat Ergin

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is constantly complaining about the media. He is always in a state of complaint. Well, which topic is it, do you think, that the prime minister is grumbling about most? When we scan all his speeches of the past six months, we see that at the top of the list of media complaints are terrorism and the Kurdish issue.

The prime minister is not happy because he cannot get the support he expects. He expresses this discontentment with a collective approach most of the time by mentioning "the media,” and to a lesser extent, adopts a discriminatory stance by saying "certain media outlets.”

Discomfort with Uludere
The biggest role in causing the prime minister’s discontent was played by the style in which the media covered the Uludere incident, in which 34 Kurdish citizens were bombed and killed by Turkish F-16s. Erdogan, first and foremost, regards the attitudes of "certain media outlets” as contributing to the strategy launched by the "PKK-BDP and CHP to wear down the government.” (Jan. 10)

Within this framework, at almost every opportunity, he says that Uludere is being "exploited.” These proclamations of his have reached such a point that he has made the accusation, "In the media, there are vultures who conduct campaigns over the dead.” (May 27)

Also with regard to this, the prime minister criticizes the media for not covering the PKK’s terrorist acts adequately: "Printed and visual media, why are you silent? Why don’t you talk about this? Where are your tears; why didn’t you shed any tears?” (Jan. 24) (...)