Female journalists accepted red roses from Turkey’s prime minister – just days after the country’s biggest newspaper was taken over by the authorities.

Zaman, previously linked to an opponent of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been running pro-government articles since the seizure last Friday (March 4).

The footage shows Ahmet Davutoglu, together with his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras, handing the flowers to female journalists to mark International Women’s Day.

Reporters Without Borders, who earlier told Euronews that press freedom in Turkey was in a disastrous state, said the footage showed a gulf opening up between pro-government and independent journalists.

Johann Bihr, head of RSF’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, said: “There are many pro-government journalists in Turkey, and most of them don’t share the concerns of their colleagues of the independent and opposition media.

“Actually, some segments of the pro-government press are even increasingly a