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WORLD NEWSFriday 23 March 2018
Defeated rebels begin leaving enclave near Syrian capital
By BASSEM MROUE In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian government forces oversee As the sun set, a group of
ZEINA KARAM the evacuation by buses of rebel fighters and their families, at a checkpoint in eastern Gouta, rebels knelt on the Harasta
BEIRUT (AP) — Carrying their Syria, Thursday March, 22, 2108. Syrian rebels and their families were leaving in an evacuation highway and prayed.
light arms, hundreds of de- deal that will see the town handed over to the government following years of siege. Ahrar al-Sham is a powerful,
feated rebels began evac- ultra-conservative Islamic
uating with their families (SANA via AP) group in Syria. It is one of
Thursday from a devastat- the smaller rebel groups
ed town in eastern Ghouta, being parked all day on a town of Harasta were 413 automatic rifles slung on based in eastern Ghouta
an effective surrender un- — and the first to acknowl-
der a deal with the gov- main highway. Among the gunmen, it said. their shoulders were seen edge defeat. Under the
ernment after a long siege agreement with the Assad
and bombing campaign of 1,580 evacuees from the Earlier, a few fighters with milling around the buses. government, the group's
the enclave on the outskirts fighters and their relatives
of Damascus. will leave their base in the
The departure of the pow- town of Harasta and head
erful Ahrar al-Sham group to opposition-controlled
— the first such arrange- Idlib in northern Syria.
ment for eastern Ghouta — The deal will see 1,500
could serve as a blueprint rebels and 6,000 civilians
for fighters in other towns, depart, according to the
bringing President Bashar state-affiliated Military Me-
Assad's government closer dia Center.
to ending years of rebellion The convoy of buses from
in the territory just east of Harasta, their headlights
the capital. blazing, was reminiscent
As night fell, Syrian TV of those ferrying defeated
showed dozens of white rebels out of eastern Alep-
buses carrying opposition po in late 2016, following a
fighters and civilians pulling similar agreement with the
out in a long convoy after government.q
Turkey's key media group to be sold to pro-Erdogan business
By SUZAN FRASER ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Tur- said Thursday it is in talks for the media to speak with outlets fired journalists criti-
Associated Press key's largest media group with a business group close just one voice," said Nazmi cal of the government and
to President Recep Tayyip Bilgin, who heads the Anka- trimmed critical reporting.
Erdogan for the sale of its ra-based Journalists Associ- Erol Onderoglu, the Turkey
outlets, a development ation. "We are deeply con- representative of Report-
that further curtails inde- cerned for the Turkish press ers Without Borders said
pendent journalism in the and freedom of press." the sale of Dogan Holding
country that has taken an There was no immediate "means the death of plu-
increasingly authoritarian government comment. ralism and independent
turn under his leadership. The possible sale is widely journalism in Turkey's main-
In a notice to Turkey's capi- seen as a culmination of stream media.
tal markets board, Dogan a long-standing battle be- “The government now has
Holding said it was negoti- tween the government complete control of the
ating the sale of outlets — and Dogan Holding's own- media in the run-up to gen-
including flagship Hurriyet er, Aydin Dogan, who also eral elections in 2019,” he
newspaper, the mass-cir- has business interests in en- added.
culation daily Posta, CNN- ergy and real estate. Erdogan has further tight-
Turk and Kanal D television In a message to employ- ened his grip on media
channels and Dogan New ees, Aydin Dogan con- since a failed military coup
Agency — to Demiroren firmed that his company in 2016 blamed on a net-
Holding. Dogan Holding had signed a "preliminary work of followers of U.S.-
said the sale was worth protocol" with Demiroren based Muslim cleric Fethul-
$890 million. Holding. lah Gulen.
Dogan news outlets were "At this stage, I have de- More than 150 journalists
among the few relatively cided to voluntarily put an are in jail, mostly on terror-
independent media in a end to my profession as a ism-related charges, while
landscape that is dominat- publisher," he said. over 150 media outlets,
ed by TV stations and news- The media magnate was from broadcasters to news-
papers allied with Erdogan. slapped with a multi-bil- papers and magazines,
If a deal is reached, Dogan- lion tax fine in 2009 that have been shut down
owned media would be forced him to sell Milliyet for alleged links to terror
the latest outlets to end up and Vatan newspapers to groups, leaving thousands
in the hands of businesses Demiroren Holding. unemployed.
close to the president. The fine had a chilling ef- The government insists the
"This will lead to the com- fect on media organiza- journalists have been jailed
plete disappearance of tions. Keen not to fall afoul for criminal activity, not
the mainstream media and of the government, news journalistic work.q
