President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s notorious intolerance for dissent was brazenly exported to the streets of the American capital, as his personal security detail physically and verbally assaulted journalists and protesters outside a prestigious Washington think tank. The incident provided a shocking, firsthand look at the brutal tactics used to silence critics in Turkey, now deployed on US soil. The confrontations erupted as Erdoğan prepared to speak at the Brookings Institution. His bodyguards, exhibiting the same aggression seen on the streets of Istanbul and Ankara, moved to suppress any form of protest. Amberin Zaman, a respected Turkish journalist with the Woodrow…
Author: Serdar Imren
Serdar Imren
Serdar Imren is a distinguished journalist with an extensive background as a News Director for major Turkish media outlets. His work has consistently focused on upholding the core principles of journalistic integrity: accuracy, impartiality, and a commitment to the truth. In response to the growing restrictions on press freedom in Turkey, he established News Journos to create a platform for independent and critical journalism. His reporting and analysis cover Turkish politics, human rights, and the challenges facing a free press in an increasingly authoritarian environment.
When President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan cited Hitler’s Germany as a model for an effective presidential system, his office was quick to claim the media had “distorted” his words. Yet, for the editor-in-chief of the country’s most influential newspaper, Hürriyet, simply reporting on the President’s controversial statements was enough to face a potential five-year prison sentence for “insult.” In Erdoğan’s Turkey, the assault on free speech has moved far beyond a “worrying” trend; it has become a systematic and ruthless campaign to crush all forms of opposition. The judiciary, once a pillar of the republic, now operates as a weapon of…
The Republic of Turkey is undergoing possibly its greatest crisis since the founding of the state nearly a century ago. Present trends suggest worse to come as a long-time Western ally evolves into a hostile dictatorship.