Can Dündar’s wife not in favor his return to Turkey

BRUSSELS / ISTANBUL

The wife of prominent Turkish journalist Can Dündar has said she is not in favor of her husband’s return to Turkey, citing legal uncertainties surrounding his lengthy prosecution and security concerns that peaked after he was shot at outside an Istanbul court on his trial day.   

“Can doesn’t only have a judiciary problem in Turkey. He also has a problem of his security of life. I’m not in favor of him returning to Turkey,” Dilek Dündar told Deutsche Welle on Oct. 12.

“You know that an assassination attempt took place,” she added.

Former daily Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dündar has been shortlisted for the European Parliament’s prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2016. 

Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzemilev, Yazidi survivors and public advocates Nadia Murad Basee and Lamiya Aji Bashar, and Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti were also among this year’s nominees for the prize.

Dündar and Cumhuriyet Ankara Bureau Chief Erdem Gül faced trial for “leaking state secrets” due to stories they published about Turkish intelligence trucks allegedly bound for Syria with hidden weapons in early 2014.

They were arrested on Nov. 26, 2015 and released on Feb. 26 following a Constitutional Court decision.

An Istanbul court later sentenced Dündar and Gül to five years in prison for “leaking state secrets” on May 6.

Earlier on the same day, Dündar escaped unharmed from an armed attack directed at him in front of the Istanbul Çağlayan Courthouse.

Dündar is believed to be in Germany after he was freed earlier this year pending an appeal following his trial. He previously said he is not considering heading back to Turkey before the state of emergency is lifted.