Critical Turkish journalist living in exile in Sweden brutally attacked
Ahmet Dönmez, a Turkish journalist who is critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) who has lived in exile in Sweden, was attacked by two men in Stockholm, Turkish minute reported, with reference to Krono’s news website.
According to Kronos, Dönmez, known for his reports on mafia groups associated with Turkish government officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, lost consciousness after the attack, which took place in front of his 6-year-old daughter, and is currently in intensive care at a local Stockholm hospital.
Dönmez had previously tweeted that he received death threats from crime boss İhsan Hızarcı after saying in a Youtube video that Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu gave protection to a mob boss named Ayhan Bora Kaplan.
Dönmez released a photo of the threats he received as WhatsApp messages and said in a tweet on February 19: “Ankaramaffian İhsan Hızarcı, who was mentioned in my previous video, sent me this threatening message:” Do not feel safe that you are in Sweden “I’ll cut your head off in 24 hours.”
Dönmez was a former Ankara correspondent for the daily Zaman, which was arrested and shut down by the Turkish government in 2016 due to links to the faith-based Gülen movement.
The daily, which had the largest daily circulation – with more than 600,000 subscribers – in Turkey at the time, was confiscated by government officials in the aftermath of a rift between Erdoğan’s AKP government and the movement.
Erdoğan has targeted supporters of the movement, which is inspired by the ideas and activism of Muslim priest Fethullah Gülen, since the corruption scandals on December 17-25, 2013, involving then-Prime Minister Erdoğan, his family members and the inner circle.
Erdoğan dismissed the investigations as a Gulenist coup and conspiracy against his government, and identified the movement as a terrorist organization and began targeting its members. He detained thousands, including many prosecutors, judges and police officers involved in the investigation.
Erdoğan intensified the crackdown on the movement after a coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that he accused Gülen of having worked. Gülen and the movement firmly deny involvement in the failed battle or any terrorist activity.
Turkish journalists are often targeted and imprisoned for their journalistic activities.
Last July, the dissident journalist Erk Acarer, a columnist for the daily newspaper Birgün living in exile in Germany, was attacked “with fists and knives” in the courtyard of his apartment building in Berlin.
Turkey is one of the world’s largest prison guards of professional journalists and was ranked 153rd among 180 countries in terms of press freedom in 2021, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF).