World Bulletin / News Desk

Turkey's foreign minister has rebuffed claims that media outlets linked to Fetullah Terrroist Organization (FETO) were shut down at the order of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying the closures were based on "independent" judicial decisions.

"In Turkey, no media outlet or press has been shut down or closed by President Erdogan," Mevlut Cavusoglu said last week during a visit to Washington, in an interview posted on news and opinion website Breitbart.com on Tuesday, as well as on YouTube.

"President Erdogan has no power [to shut down media]," he said, adding media closures in the aftermath of last July's coup attempt followed an independent judicial decision.

"Nevertheless, there were some media outlets belonging to FETO terrorist organization, and they were involved in the failed coup in Turkey. And they were also involved in many illegal activities including fabricating false evidences against third persons. So those are the media outlets closed by the independent judiciaries in Turkey, not by President. The president has no authority to do so in Turkey."

Ankara accuses FETO's U.S.-based ringleader Fetullah Gulen of masterminding the July 15 foiled coup which left 249 people martyred and some 2,200 injured. FETO is also accused of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and the judiciary.

The segment published last night was the second in a series, with the first part released on Monday.

Cavusoglu also blamed the Western media for "taking sides" and not playing a "very constructive role" by dragging the continent "back to [the] pre-World War II era," calling it a "very dangerous trend".

Cavusoglu added that currently the "leftist" media, "especially in Europe" mainly covered refugee issues and "fueled" the society with anti-refugee and anti-minority sentiment.