NYT Reporter Receives Threats Over Story of ’ISIL’ Recruitment in Turkey

Local Editor

New York Times reporter Ceylan Yeginsu, who recently wrote a story on the recruitment efforts of the so-called "Daesh" [ISIL] militant group in the Turkish capital of Ankara, has received thousands of threatening messages, the publication's executive editor Dean Baquet said on Thursday.

The New York Times responded to attacks on its Turkey reporter after it published a report focusing on the recruitment of Turks by Daesh in an Ankara neighborhood.

Yeginsu came under attack by the pro-government media and on social media platforms after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lashed out at a report she wrote for The New York Times that was published on Sept. 15. Erdogan particularly was angered by the photo that was published along with the story, picturing him and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu leaving a mosque in the same Ankara neighborhood.

Baquet said in a statement released by The New York Times on Thursday: "Some Turkish authorities and media outlets have mounted a coordinated campaign to intimidate and to impugn the motives of the reporter who wrote the story."

"She has been sent thousands of messages that threaten her safety. It is unacceptable for one of our journalists to be targeted in this way," Banquet added.

"We expect the Turkish authorities to work to ensure the safety of our journalists working legally in the county and we would ask these authorities to use well-established procedures for reaching either myself or other top editors of The New York Times should further communication regarding this matter be necessary," Baquet said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team