NZNTV

ISTANBUL.  As we continued our broadcast in a locked control room of Bugun TV, our eyes continuously checked the glass door. Our colleagues outside were texting to us that additional police forces had entered the building. Any moment now, they would storm into the control room and cut off our broadcast.

It all started 40 hours ago. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP government in their attempt to silence any independent press four days ahead of general elections, decided to seize prominent Turkish businessman Akin Ipek’s Koza Ipek Group, which owns Turkey’s media platforms Bugun TV, KanalTurk TV, and Millet and Bugun newspapers. Without any legal basis, a prosecutor appointed a trustee to take over the media group.

Bugun TV had emerged as the main media platform for opposition politicians. As thousands of protesters gathered outside to prevent the takeover of the media building, Turkish riot police stormed the media outlet with excessive force and tear gas right after dawn Wednesday morning.

Journalists and opposition MPs trying to oppose them were treated harshly and some were thrown out of the building. Those that managed to stay inside helped sneak fellow journalists to the control room upstairs so they could continue the live broadcast. I was one of those journalists.

Earlier that day, when I had learned that Bugun TV headquarters were stormed, I had gone to the front of the building. It was cordoned off by riot police and they weren’t letting anyone in. Chief Editor Tarik Toros was courageously continuing the broadcast with head of news Erkan Akkus from a locked control room inside. A handful of journalists and MPs who were able to remain inside the building were joining their broadcast.

Along with fellow journalists Busra Erdal and Turgay Ogur, we made our way into an underground tunnel that connects the adjacent building to the media building and managed to make our way quietly up the stairs into the control room. At that moment, riot police were busy downstairs turning off the cameras on the other floors.

Once we made our way into the control room, we joined the broadcast immediately.

I am not an employee of Bugun TV (I was fired from my own network NTV 10 months ago by a government order for tweeting about jailed journalists), but the people in that building under police seizure were my friends and colleagues. Our aim was clear, to show solidarity with our colleagues, keep the control room safe and continue the broadcast as long as possible and we did.

Until 4:34 p.m. we were reporting on air what was happening in and outside of the building. Toros was moderating the broadcast. 

The whole country was literally watching.

As the clock showed 4:30 p.m. our friends informed us that additional police forces were now entering the building and making their way up to the control room.

None of us panicked.

We continued, calmly and elaborately, telling Turkey what was going on minute by minute in and outside of the building. At 4:35 p.m. the police appeared in front of the control room, showed their guns behind the glass door and started pushing it.

We opened it, they rushed in and went immediately for the live feed. Toros continued reporting until the last moment. We were taken out of the room and removed from the building.

As I write these lines, a Bugun TV reporter, who was beaten and handcuffed from behind in the police raid earlier in the day, is still detained by the police without any charges.

It was one of the most tragic and yet memorable days of my life. From a tiny locked control room, we showed that we were not intimidated, that they were not going to silence us and that we will continue our reporting. So keep on watching… please.

Suna Vidinli is a Turkish broadcast journalist, Harvard and Georgetown alumni, Davos moderator and winner of a ‘Leading Women of Turkey Award’. She was fired from NTV 10 months ago for tweeting about jailed journalists in Turkey.