Decision to seize Turkish newspaper 'troubling': US

The US has described Turkey's decision to seize control of the country's largest newspaper as "troubling".

"We see this as the latest in a series of troubling judicial and law enforcement actions taken by Turkey targeting media outlets and others critical of it," the website of Zaman newspaper cited US State Department spokesman John Kirby as saying on Friday.

Turkish authorities on Friday seized control of the Zaman newspaper in Istanbul at the request of a prosecutor in a widening crackdown against supporters of the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.