Can Dündar (Cumhuriyet) speaks with high level German officials with regard to Erol Önderoglu’s case
Can Dündar, editor-in-chief of the Turkish daily Cumhuriyet, met with leading German politicians this week to discuss the reality of the restrictions on press freedom and oppression of journalists in Turkey, and implored them to raise political support for Erol Önderoglu, Reporters without Borders (RSF)’s representative in Turkey who was arrested on Monday of this week. RSF representative Önderoglu was charged with “terrorist propaganda” for taking part in a campaign of solidarity with the Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem. Among others, UN-Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the German Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid Bärbel Kofler have criticized the jailing and arrest of Önderoglu.
On May 6, Dündar was sentenced to almost 6 years in prison, convicted of revealing state secrets. The sentencing however does not go into effect until the appeal proceedings begin. At the end of May 2015, their newspaper published a report containing evidence that the Turkish secret service supplied weapons to Islamists in Syria. Afterwards President Erdogan appeared on state television threatening that editor-in-chief Dündar and Ankara bureau-chief Erdem Gül would not go unpunished and pay a high price for publishing the report. He accused them with espionage, revealing state secrets and supporting a terrorist organization.
Dündar along with representatives of RSF Germany also met with Minister of State for Europe Michael Roth (SPD), and German Parliament Vice-President Claudia Roth on June 24. Other notable figures and officials that Dündar met with include Cem Özdemir (Chair of the Greens), Anton Hofreiter (party Whip of the Greens), Rolf Mützenich (Deputy Chair of the SPD faction), Dietmar Nietan, (Chair of the Turkish Coordinating Committee of the SPD), as well as Sahra Wagenknecht, Dietmar Bartsch, Heike Hänsel, and Sevim Dagdelen of the Left Party faction. Dündar also sat in on a meeting of Parliament’s Human Rights Committee. Dündar then took part in a discussion with close to 40 members of Parliament with representatives from each of the Bundestag’s parties. Inviting members of parliament were Frank Heinrich (CDU), Cansel Kiziltepe (SPD), Sevim Dagdelen (Left), and Özcan Mutlu (Greens), who penned an open letter to Erdogan in March in which they called for the dropping of all charges against Dündar and Gül. The letter was signed by more than 130 members of parliament.
Turkey ranks 151st out of 180 countries on the 2016 Reporters Without Borders Press
Freedom Index.
To find out more about the state of press freedom in Turkey please go to, download Reporters Without Borders' most recent Turkey report.
