German Ambassador lays stress on the free press

Germany’s Ambassador to Ankara made a support visit to our newspaper yesterday. Erdmann, saying, “The free press serves as a guarantee for many areas of societies such as politics, ideas and economics,” stressed, “We will also adopt the necessary position from now on over the free press and a fair trial.”

 Erdmann, who was met by Cumhuriyet Foundation Chair and our paper’s proprietor Orhan Erinç, Editor-in-Chief Murat Sabuncu, Editor Bülent Özdoğan, columnist Aydın Engin, our reporter Ahmet Şık, Cumhuriyet Foundation Executive Board member Önder Çelik and Foreign News service supervisor Mine Esen, was accompanied by his wife Marion Erdmann. Erdmann, who started out by commenting, “This is a historic place” with reference to our newspaper building, stated that the visit “must be taken to signify the German Federal Government’s and its embassy’s respect and support for the remaining free press in Turkey.”

 Erdmann, recalling that he was the only ambassador to visit our newspaper’s Ankara Representative Erdem Gül and former Editor-in-Chief Can Dündar in Silivri in relation to their trial and provoked President Tayyip Erdoğan’s ire for this, said, “I praise the Cumhuriyet staff for the courage they display in carrying out their work.” Pointing to Sabuncu and Şık who were released last month, he commented, “Some of you have been in prison. Some of you probably will be again. I cannot imagine the worry that comes from thinking while going to bed every day, ‘What will happen tomorrow – will something happen to me?’” He gave his expression of support to our paper by saying, “The free press serves as a guarantee for many areas of societies such as politics, ideas and economics ... We will also adopt the necessary position from now on over the free press and a fair trial. We made this visit to give symbolic expression to this stance of ours.”

 The struggle continues

 Cumhuriyet Foundation Chair Orhan Erinç, thanking the Ambassador for the interest he had shown in Cumhuriyet, remarked, “We are striving to bring to life the rule of law that only exists on paper in the Constitution. We are not without hope and continue the struggle.” Our Editor-in-Chief Sabuncu, in turn, mentioning the folk song “My brave, my lion” that the Ambassador’s wife Marion Erdmann sang while playing the baglama at a recital evening in February, thanked her with the words, “The lady gave an excellent rendition of the folk song. It was most valuable for her to sing such a meaningful folk song in our language. A great many ‘braves’ and ‘lions’ are incarcerated.” Recalling the names of our paper’s imprisoned Executive Board Chair Akın Atalay along with the HDP members of parliament, not least Selahattin Demirtaş, businessman Osman Kavala and 78ers Initiative Spokesperson Celalettin Can, Sabuncu commented, “We will continue to struggle and conduct journalism not just for ourselves, but for all those who are in jail for political reasons.”

 For his part, Ahmet Şık expressed the view that Germany and the European Union needed to “engage in self-criticism for people in Turkey who look towards democracy having been left on their own.” Şık said, “We harbour no expectation from the West. If there is to be an advancement in Turkey, this will be through the struggle of the people in Turkey and not external coercion.”

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