Can Dündar: Until Silivri Concentration Camp Becomes a Museum

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Cumhuriyet daily Chief Editor Can Dündar and its Ankara Representative Erdem Gül have been released from Silivri Prison at 3.15 a.m. where they had been kept for 92 days.  

Lawyers of Dündar and Gül made an individual application to the Constitutional Court asserting claims of “violation of the right to one’s liberty and safety, the freedom of expressing and promulgating thoughts, the freedom of press and expression through the arrest order”.

Following his release, Dündar has remarked; “Sorry for making you wait till this hour. The real purpose of the ones making us wait was to wait till the day turns from the 25th to 26th. As you know, today is the birthday of our President [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan], the 26th. We are celebrating his birthday. And we are glad to be celebrating it with such a release order. We got in on our wedding anniversary. Let’s say, he rather got us in. And we wanted to give him a present on his birthday”.

CLICK - COURT RULES RELEASE FOR CAN DÜNDAR AND ERDEM GÜL

“We will follow our colleagues closely, till this concentration camp becomes a museum..."

“The deputies did not leave us alone, our families have stood by us. We owe them thanks. Penal institution staff treated us very well. We have been given great interest by everyone. I have to say this; my only wish is that the grudge and the hatred which got us in, can not poison you, we ourselves did not get poisoned. We are very determined to fight. We will continue defending ourselves. Our case will proceed. We got out but over 30 colleagues are still in there. We will watch over them. Until this concentration camp behind me turns into a museum, we will keep on fighting.   

“Our colleagues inside have asked us not to forget them. This court decision will also be a leading case for their release. I hope this will be a good start”.

“There are apparently judges in Ankara”

There are apparently judges in Ankara, we have found that out. You will see, everybody will see that things will begin to change in Turkey. We are getting out of here with great hopes. We have never been alone, we have not quit, we have not stayed quiet. They did not want us to write, we wrote. With our reports, we aimed at pointing where Turkey was being dragged into. What the President has said about Al Nusra shows the evidences for our report”. (ÇT/HK/DG)

* Photograph: İslam Yakut - İstanbul/Anadolu News Agency (AA)