Pro-gov't Turkish TV reporter turns out to work for Education Ministry

A reporter of the pro-government A Haber news channel has turned out to be working for the Education Ministry as a civil servant. The Education Ministry announced that it had launched an investigation into Fırat Öztürk -- the regional manager of A Haber for Elazığ.

Ardıl Batmaz / DUVAR

It has come out to light that a reporter of the pro-government A Haber TV channel is in fact a public servant working for the Education Ministry.

Journalist Metin Cihan has on his social media account shared documents showing that Fırat Öztürk was a registered public servant of the ministry.

Öztürk is also the regional manager of A Haber for the eastern province of Elazığ.

İYİ (Good) Party Elazığ provincial chair Mevlüt Or said that it goes against the law for civil servants to conduct politics. “This situation is an indicator of what the rulership brought the country to. With the money of this country, he is serving as a reporter of a TV channel and also as a public servant. And as if all this is not enough, he is not even going to work and is involved in provocative actions,” said Or.

Elazığ provincial director of Education Ministry, Feyzi Gürtürk, said that they had launched an investigation into Öztürk.

Öztürk made the news recently after he ordered a citizen to ask a provocative question to Good Party leader Meral Akşener during the politician's visit to Elazığ.

Özeren was caught on cameras while telling the citizen in question, “You ask your question and we will record you.”

Özeren's video was later shared by Good Party executive Levent Özeren.

“During Meral Akşener's visit to Elazığ's Kovancılar district, A Haber reporter was caught on cameras while preparing a provocation setup,” Özeren had written in his social media post, while exposing the journalist's action.