An arrest warrant was issued on Tuesday for the Cumhuriyet daily’s chief executive officer, Akın Atalay, after he was not found at his residence on Monday during an operation targeting the opposition daily.
Atalay was in Germany during the police raid that resulted in the detention of 14 Cumhuriyet columnists and executives.
The pro-government Sabah daily reported on Tuesday that Atalay had not been on board his return flight from Germany although he did not issue a statement to that effect. Sabah is believed to have access to passenger information that should normally be confidential. The pro-government media had revealed the flight information of former Zaman top editors as well before the government brutally seized the paper in March.
