Taraf and the army

And again newspaper Taraf (meaning ‘side’) made the Turkish army look foolish. They published a story about alledged plans from the army to make short work of governing party AKP and the Gulen Movement (a big group of followers of religious leader Fethullah Gulen, a controversial figure in Turkey). The AKP already announced that it will file a lawsuit against the conspirators if they find any truth in the allegations. And the army, well, they investigated themselves, and came to the very quick conclusion that they are not involved in any such anti-AKP and anti-Gulen plans. A conclusion that makes me frown. Not that I would know whether the allegations are true or not, but since when is an accused party in the position to investigate itself, especially when it comes to such serious allegations? There is even a good chance that the army will sue Taraf, like they did before when Taraf had the nerve to criticize the army: months ago, the newspaper suggested that the army made serious mistakes in the fight against terrorist PKK in the southeast of the country and that because of that soldiers died unnecessary.
There is a weird tradition here of blaming the messenger in stead of investigating what well informed journalists reveal. This even leads to closing down newspapers and magazines, like some years ago magazine Nokta, that in retrospective was the first to reveal anything about Ergenekon and was harassed and in the end closed down because of it. I hope Taraf will not end up like that. They are young (they started not even two years ago), they have apparently good contacts in high places and they are brave enough to keep on publishing about abuses in untouchable state institutions. If Taraf survives, it would mean Turkey has made progress in press freedom.