'We'll wake up from nightmare,' opposition MP says ahead of elections

 Click to read the article in Turkish

Weeks into Turkey's pivotal elections, PEN Norway's Turkey adviser conducted interviews with 11 representatives of major political parties in İstanbul. The interviews covered topics such as freedom of expression, freedom of the press, the rule of law, and the right to a fair trial in Turkey.

The series of interviews began with Serhan Yücel from the Democratic Party (DP) today. DP is a member of the main opposition Nation's Alliance, which comprises six parties.

In the interview, Yücel said the climate of fear, which limits freedom of expression, "was not cas overnight" in Turkey.

"One of the very first steps was to exert control over the conventional media," he said. "Masses of people were put in a constant state of anxiety after the detention of well-known public figures without any concrete charges, endorsement of these processes through the media, the systematic lynching, interrogations and arrests of social media influencers.

"However, if you are looking for the ground zero of such an environment, it is the deterioration of the climate of justice. The first of a series of padlocks that fastened the shackles attached on freedom of the press and freedom of expression were the tailor-made judgments by the courts to address the needs of the ruling party rather than of the law."

"Dystopian times"

"More than 160,000 people were investigated and more than 45,000 people were sued for insulting the President during Erdoğan's term under the Article 299 of Turkey's Criminal Code which prescribes the offense of insulting the President. 13,000 people were convicted.

"We are going through a dystopian patch where investigations are launched against even those who say that the government is responsible for the rising cost of living. This is a monstrous judicial climate where earthquake victims, in less than a week after the earthquake, are summoned to testify for complaining about the inactivity of the state. We will, however, wake up from this nightmare on the morning of May 15."

Click to read the full interview

(NT/VK)