Former Editor-in-Chief of the Cumhuriyet daily Can Dündar, who resigned from his position on July 6, saying he felt mentally exhausted due to heavy government pressure on the newspaper, announced on Wednesday that he was soon going to start a newspaper in Germany for the Turkish audience in Turkey and abroad.
Underlining that his newspaper would give importance to a variety of different thoughts, Dündar said it would be the voice of those whose voice is not heard in the media in Turkey. “We will try to do the same job we used to do in Turkey, but our hands will not be tied here,” he added.
Giving details about the new newspaper, Dündar said it will be independent and will write the truths that are not written in Turkey. Dündar also said there are thousands of unemployed journalists in Turkey and that his newspaper will operate in solidarity with them.
Dündar is currently on trial and accused of “espionage” after publishing an article on the alleged transportation of weapons to radical groups in Syria by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT).
The charges stem from a terrorism investigation launched after Cumhuriyet in May of last year published photos of weapons it said were being transferred to Syria in trucks operated by MİT.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has cast the newspaper’s coverage as part of an attempt to undermine Turkey’s global standing, said he would not forgive such reporting.
While Dündar left Turkey prior to a failed coup attempt on July 15, his wife was stopped by police at İstanbul Atatürk Airport and her passport was seized under the state of emergency that was declared days after the coup attempt.