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Can Dündar, editor-in-chief of the secularist daily Cumhuriyet, was arrested on November 26, 2015 along with Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gül, charged with espionage and membership…

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Can Dündar, editor-in-chief of the secularist daily Cumhuriyet, was arrested on November 26, 2015 along with Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gül, charged with espionage and membership in a terrorist organization after Cumhuriyet published footage alleging Turkish intelligence (MİT) had shipped weapons to Syrian Islamist groups. President Erdoğan personally stated Dündar would 'pay heavily' for publishing the story. Dündar was held in pretrial detention for 92 days. The Constitutional Court ordered his release in February 2016, but Erdoğan publicly rejected the ruling. Dündar was subsequently convicted in 2016 and sentenced to over five years in prison; he fled to Germany where he remained in exile.
country
Turkey
date text
2015-11-26
entities
sources
  • citation
    Committee to Protect Journalists, 'Jailed for Sources,' 2016; Reporters Without Borders Turkey 2015–2016 reports; Human Rights Watch press statements November 2015; Reuters, 'Turkey's Erdogan says Cumhuriyet editor will pay for report,' November 2015
tactics
narratives
  • Spy / Terrorist / Traitor
    label
    Spy / Terrorist / Traitor
    code
    LEGACY-N-77589c771ed9
    needs review
    true
    role
    primary
  • Foreign Agent
    label
    Foreign Agent
    code
    LEGACY-N-c539eacb4af4
    needs review
    true
    role
    secondary
campaign ids
campaign phase
Administrative Enforcement
channels
  • Criminal Prosecution, Arrest, Presidential Statements, Pro-Government Media
civic response
International press freedom organizations mounted advocacy campaigns; CPJ and RSF awarded Dündar press freedom prizes; solidarity protests by Turkish journalists; Constitutional Court formally ordered release though ruling was defied
consequence category
Imprisonment / Forced Exile / Press Freedom Violation
created at
2026-09-24T17:50:55.358311+00:00
date precision
day
escalation
4
harm track
Both
id
TUR-009
institutional consequence
Editor imprisoned, subsequently forced into exile; Cumhuriyet severely weakened; clear signal to all journalists about cost of national security reporting
notes
The Dündar case is significant for two reasons: first, it established personal presidential targeting as an explicit tactic; second, Erdoğan's public rejection of the Constitutional Court's release order foreshadowed the later defiance of ECtHR rulings in the Kavala case, demonstrating systematic judicial instrumentalization. | Additional tactic: TC-51
occurred on
2015-11-26
trigger type
Investigative journalism exposing alleged state weapons smuggling
updated at
2026-09-24T17:50:55.358311+00:00
version
1

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