The Turkish President Erdoğan’s habit of confiscating cigarettes and eliciting a promise from the owners to give up famously involved the Bulgarian Foreign Minister in 2016, and inspired the Cumhuriyet columnist Kadri Gürsel’s 'Erdoğan Wants to Become the New Father to Turks'. Last week, Gürsel was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for his comments that included, ‘Turkey only needs a rebellious child like Muhammad Buazizi, who provided the spark that toppled the Tunisian dictator.’

The Board of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), meeting in Durban, South Africa on 7th June 2017 ahead of the 69th World News Media Congress, has called on the South African government to ensure an environment that better protects media freedom and the independence of journalists, notably in the face of proposed legislation that threatens a free press.

Can Dündar’s journalism career has spanned nearly four decades, with positions in some of Turkey’s most notable newspapers, magazines and television channels. He has produced content for TRT, CNN Turk and NTV, worked as a parliamentary correspondent and written a longstanding column in Turkish daily Milliyet. He has also published more than 20 books.

As part of a day of global action on 3 May to protest the on-going deterioration of freedom of expression in Turkey, WAN-IFRA joined IFEX, the global network comprising 108 organisations dedicated to promoting and defending freedom of expression, to raise a collective voice to the attention of Turkish diplomatic missions worldwide.