Statement From Cumhuriyet Daily on Can Dündar and Resignations

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Cumhuriyet daily Executive Board President Akın Atalay has declared that Can Dündar has maintained his position as Editor in Chief of Cumhuriyet daily. Yet he has not made any statements regarding the reasons of the other resignations submitted. 

 Atalay has noted;

“Our Editor in Chief Can Dündar had planned a vacation and was on holiday leave for 1,5 - 2 months in summer due to the extreme exhaustion he had to suffer because of incidents during last year such as his arrest, the time in prison and the armed attack he had been exposed to. [...] And those who look for other meaning behind Can Dündar taking a vacation leave are spreading out rumors like ‘he has resigned from his office temporarily’. But Can Dündar  continies working as the Editor in Chief [...]. 

“Vice Editor in Chief Tahir Özyurtseven and some other journalists [...] have announced that they had resigned today (July 07). It is not right to make any statement on the matter as it would be more appropriate that they announce the reasons for their resignment themselves”.

Dündar: Delegating duti174667es to Executive Board

Earlier, Dündar had announced that he had assigned his duties to the executive board of the newspapers foundation and added;

“Dear friends, since last year I have been struggling with accusations, threats, trials arrests, convictions, shootings, testimonies, defences, defamation cases while trying to do my job at the same time. I have not been able to take a vacation during this time. 

“Although there has been no decline in my determination and ethusiasm concerning journalism, I can feel that I have become pyhsically and mentally exhausted. 

“As I have always done in situations like these, I would like to concentrate on a new book at a silent corner and make plans for the future. 

“During this period, I am delegating all my administrative and editorial authorities to the Executive Board of Cumhuriyet Foundation” (YY/DG)