Interview with jailed author from Turkey Aslı Erdoğan

Aslı Erdoğan is among over 140 journalists currently detained in Turkey. A renowned author and a former member of advisory board of Turkey’s shut-down newspaper Özgür Gündem, Erdoğan was taken into custody and detained in August this year on charges of ‘being a member of and carrying out propaganda in the name of PKK’

Erdoğan has recently answered questions of Alessandra Coppola of Corriere newspaper, who sent across her questions through Erdoğan’s lawyer.

To Coppola’s question on ‘why Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is afraid of journalists’, author and journalist Aslı Erdoğan – who has the same last name as the President of Turkey - replied by saying: “The regime is becoming totalitarian and wants to be sure it is the only and absolute dispenser of the truth. Erdoğan (President Erdoğan) is unable to digest even the slightest criticism, and spews out all his resentment and vindictiveness on intellectuals. Above all, he has no respect for ‘women intellectuals’. I’m not sure whether he hates us or is terrified of us. What should the international community do, and Europe in particular? Do you think that agreements with Ankara to stop the flow of refugees mean less pressure is being applied? Europe must immediately stop turning a blind eye to Turkey over the immigrant crisis, and has the power to apply pressure, also in the area of trade. By using desperate people for the purposes of blackmail, Turkey has completely lost the moral superiority it had earned by accepting three and a half million refugees, and is losing its prestige in the Muslim world.”

As Coppola also asked Erdoğan about her health and safety in prison, the author responded by reminding that ‘she had already had health problems prior to being put in jail’, adding the conditions there can potentially further the complications.

As for their safety, Erdoğan said: “Last week, an MP of the AKP [the president’s party, Ed.], said that: ‘There may be attacks on prisons, terrorists might be lynched’. After this threat we really started to feel scared. They’ve increased the number of iron gates, but rather than to protect us, they are there to make it even more difficult for us to get out! We took it in turns to stay awake for five nights. There was an alarm on Sunday, but I had got so used to the situation that I just carried on plucking my eyebrows. I worked out how I could make it easier to suffocate, so that I would not die in the flames... I am completely vulnerable, like every opponent of the regime in Turkey.”

Source: https://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/asli-erdogan-erdogan-neden-korkuyor-sorusuna-cevap-verdi-138944.html