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The International Press Institute (IPI) is proud to launch the new podcast series
IPI Freedom Dialogues: Turkey, a platform for timely, vital conversations on press freedom, freedom of expression and the future of quality journalism. You’ll get the inside story from some of Turkey’s most trusted editors, journalists and relevant experts as they analyse and shed light on key journalism-related issues in Turkey for both local and international audiences. Episodes will be available in both English and Turkish.

As independent journalism in Turkey faces massive repression, its practitioners are fighting to keep the public informed and reinvent the profession to face the challenges to come. Hear from the experts.
IPI Freedom Dialogues: Turkey is hosted by Cansu Çamlıbel, editor-in-chief of the popular English language news site Duvar English and a member of IPI’s Turkey National Committee. Before joining Duvar, Çamlıbel was the U.S. correspondent of Hürriyet Daily News.

The first episode is already here! Çamlıbel has kicked-off the series with a conversation with prominent journalist Kadri Gürsel, the chair of IPI’s Turkey National Committee. Gürsel, who has a long career working for some of Turkey’s most respected publications, spent 11 months in prison between 2017 and 2018 as a price for his critical journalism and is one of Turkey’s leading voices in defence of press freedom.

In our first episode, Çamlıbel and Gürsel touch on key aspects of Turkey’s ongoing crackdown on independent journalism including:

  • The growing trend of jailing journalists in Turkey over the last decade as a long-term practice.
  • Why the year 2008 marked the beginning of Turkey’s latest move to suppress press freedom.
  • The 2013 Gezi Park protests as a turning point of the positive perception on ruling party AKP into negative
  • The symbolic case of Kurdish journalist Nedim Türfent, who spent his 1,500th day behind bars this month
  • The thin line between journalism and activism as a universal question

Highlights from the episode (Kadri Gürsel): 

“For a professional journalist, the only field of activism is the defense of the freedom of the press. But an activist cannot be denied from doing journalism.”

“Journalists have the solemn right to have selected agenda or priorities. Journalists can focus on environmental issues, on the economy, human rights, on foreign policy as well as on Kurdish question.”