Wild comments were made on 'TGRT Haber', a Turkish television station loyal to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, that called for Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) to assassinate Turkish journalists who live abroad.
One of the speakers on the program 'Medya Kritik', Cem Küçük, did not mumble his words, clearly calling for journalists critical of Erdoğan to be "exterminated" and to be killed with "a bullet to the head."
"No need to beat around the bush anymore. Where they [critical journalists] live is known, including their addresses abroad. Let's see what happens if several of them get exterminated. How they would be terrified if you put a bullet to the heads of some [critical] journalists," he said.
He took specific aim at Abdullah Bozkurt, Director of Nordic Monitor who is in self-exile in Stockholm, Sweden. Bozkurt is known for his outspoken criticism of Erdoğan and for unveiling wiretaps and documents that show MIT operations against so-called Turkish dissidents, as well as plans by high-ranking military officials to expel Christians from Turkey.
Speaking about Bozkurt, Küçük said "his home address is known by the [Turkish] state," prompting the other speaker, Fuat Uğur, to say "they must not live comfortably where they live."
In response, Küçük, said "right. Kill three or five of them and see what happens. Turkish intelligence agency MIT has now an authority [to do killings] abroad."
Uğur then said "the MIT has a mandate now. Brother, it is time to act now," with Küçük saying how Turkey must "show no mercy anymore."
Turkey is one of the lowest ranked countries for media freedoms in the whole world, is the second most susceptible country surveyed on the European continent to fake news, has the most journalists jailed in the whole world, and 90% of media is government controlled.
The media landscape is so controlled in Turkey that journalists can comfortably discuss the assassination and call for the murder of other journalists, who challenge Erdoğan's authoritarian leadership, without any consequences or condemnation.