Turkey's High Council on Radio and Television took away the rights to broadcast of 17 media agencies in the country at the end of the week, mediapool announced.

The licenses of 1 TV and 16 radio stations were withdrawn. In its decision, the Turkish regulator refers to the national legislation in force. Among the closed ones are local radio stations in cities such as the Kokjali, Soma and Chorlu, located in the western part of the country, a radio channel in the large Black Sea town of Samsun and others, the national radio reported.

On Friday, the head of Fataullah Gülen's media group Samueloylu, Hideyat Karadja, was sentenced to 31 years of imprisonment. The Turkish government blames the organization of the cleric that it is behind the coup attempt of July 15, 2016.

In connection with Turkey's post-coup state of emergency, another 12 opposition or pro-Kurdish televisions and 11 radio stations were previously closed. According to a report on media freedom in Turkey, prepared by the Beanet human rights group in late October, 296 arrested journalists are threatened by a total of 3036 years of imprisonment, mediapool recalls.