The climate in Turkey has been increasingly repressive for years, which is why journalist Can Dündar had to leave his country. It is now from Germany that he is committed to the democratic future of his country.
This content was published on March 13, 2023
minutes
Where is Switzerland? Where is she heading? These questions are central to my concerns.
Can Külahcigil
In this year 2023, the Turkish Republic celebrates the centenary of its foundation – and elections are planned. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has led the country since 2003 as prime minister and since 2014 as president, has long faced a dip in his approval ratings. And the catastrophic earthquake in February further undermined public confidence. Uncertainty is high in the country, as is the fear that Erdogan will further harden his authoritarian style.
In the rankingExternal link freedom of the press established by the NGO Reporters Without Borders, Turkey now occupies the 149e rank out of 180. It is one of the countries where the number of imprisoned journalists is the highest. The media is controlled by the state or pro-government companies and censorship is widespread. Especially since the failed coup attempt in 2016, the government has become even more repressive towards the media, political opposition and civil society.
Can Dündar, one of Turkey’s best-known journalistic voices, has experienced this. As a journalist, author, presenter and documentary filmmaker, he was a big critic of Recep Tayyip Erdogan – and found himself in the crosshairs of the government for it. After revealing in 2015 that Turkey was illegally supplying arms to Syria, Can Dündar was charged with espionage and supporting terrorism in several trials. After a failed assassination attempt – a man shot him in court – the journalist left the country in 2016. He was sentenced in absentia to heavy sentences and his assets in Turkey were confiscated.
Today Can Dündar lives in Germany and is the editor of the web radio we are freeExternal link. He continues his fight for a democratic Turkey from his exile. In an interview with swissinfo.ch, he said: “Freedom of expression is like breathing, like drinking water, like satisfying your hunger. Unfortunately, in our country we have not been able to breathe for some time, we are thirsty and hungry”. It is the duty of journalists to “clear the airways”.
The journalist believes that Turkey is now at a crossroads: one leading to an autocratic regime, perhaps even a dictatorship, the other to the construction of a democracy. A democratic Turkey is a great opportunity for the region, for Europe and for the world; the task of a journalist in exile is therefore to work in this direction, according to Can Dündar.
Translated from German by Olivier Pauchard