Turkey has converted the now-closed Zaman newspaper building, which was confiscated by government officials in 2016, into a courthouse, according to the tr724 news website.
The modern building located at İstanbul’s Yenibosna district was designed and constructed specifically for the newspaper in 2005.
Following a rift between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government and the faith-based Gülen movement, a Turkish court appointed trustees to the management of Feza Gazetecilik A.Ş., a media company affiliated with the movement, and included the Zaman daily, which had the largest daily circulation in Turkey at the time.
The trustees had run the paper until a 2016 abortive putsch, turning it into a mouthpiece of the Erdoğan government, firing most of the editorial board.
Turkey accuses the Gülen movement of orchestrating the failed coup, although it strongly denies any involvement.
Feza Gazetecilik A.Ş. was transferred to the treasury after the coup attempt.
The Belgian partner of the company, Cascade Investment, however, brought the government’s move to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), where a case is still pending.
