The Turkish Government has destroyed over 300,000 books in an attempt to remove anything linked to Fethullah Gulen, the US-based Muslim cleric accused by Turkey of instigating a failed military coup in 2016.
Turkey’s education minister, Ziya Selçuk, says the books were subject to investigation because they were published by companies that were closed by the government following the attempted coup, with books removed from local offices, schools and libraries.
According to a 2018 report from English PEN, an organisation promoting freedom of expression, the Turkish government has shut down 200 media outlets and publishers and subjected 80 writers to investigations and prosecution, leading to a “crisis of freedom of expression in Turkey.”