ANKARA - A prominent Turkish journalist was hospitalized after an attack by unknown assailants outside his home, his newspaper said on Thursday, in the latest sign of deteriorating conditions for the media under President Tayyip Erdogan.
Ahmet Hakan, a columnist for Turkey's leading secular Hurriyet newspaper and a host on broadcaster CNN Turk, was followed home from the television station by four men in a black car late on Wednesday, before being assaulted near his residence, according to Hurriyet Editor-in-Chief Sedat Ergin.
"We see that it was an organized, planned attack," Ergin was quoted as saying in Hurriyet Daily News.
Hakan was treated for a broken nose and ribs, the newspaper said.The attack comes just weeks after prosecutors launched an investigation into the paper's owner, Dogan Media Group , for alleged "terrorism propaganda."