Ekrem Dumanli, editor-in-chief of the Zaman newspaper, waves to staff as he is arrested. Photograph: Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images

The arrests of journalists in Turkey have been deplored by international human rights organisations, press freedom groups and UK journalists bodies.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the arrests will harm media freedom and chill free speech. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) called it a brazen assault on press freedom and Turkish democracy.

The New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) described the heavy-handed actions as smacking of political vengeance. The Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) saw the arrests as part of a trend by Turkeys government in recent years to use terrorism accusations to bring its critics to heel.

English PEN, in company with PEN International, PEN America and PEN Turkey, registered its deep concern at the detention of the five journalists and six screenwriters. Jo Glanville, director of English PEN, said: Authoritarian tactics will only serve to erode the governments standing, the freedom of its citizens and Turkeys international reputation.

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) spoke of animosity towards the media and an exercise of political pressure on journalism by the Turkish authorities.

Britains National Union of Journalists (NUJ) joined in the chorus of condemnation by deploring the arrests. Journalists must have the freedom to write and report without the fear of arrest and detention, it said.

But Turkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, has rejected all such condemnation, including that from the European Union. He argues that the 23 people detained in orchestrated raids on Sunday have close ties with a US-based Islamic cleric, Fethullah Glen, whom he accuses of establishing a parallel organisation inside Turkey.

Glen, who lives in self-imposed exile, was formerly an ally of Erdoan. Now Erdoan claims that Glen has created an influential network within the media, police and judiciary that is seeking to overthrow his government and his political party, AKP.

According to a statement issued by the Istanbul public prosecutors office, the people under arrest have engaged in forgery and slander against the elected government.

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Arrests of Turkish journalists widely condemned across the world