Would you say that it is activist work for you ?
Probably, yes. Another problem for me is the concept of what I am doing, because I do it in a very free way, without any background in journalism, or any networks. I did it my way, asking myself what is good and what can I do better. Then people labelled me in different ways. The most common one, I think, is investigative journalism, but also citizen journalism. I say social media journalism.
What motivates you? Why against such high pressure and such threats do you continue your work?
It’s about the country. I love my country, I want better things for the future of it. Since my childhood, we have had the same problems; corruption, for example. I want to struggle with it, if I can do something to change it. Journalism is not easy, especially if you are in Turkey, so I want to support my colleagues, the journalists, the area, and the people with my reports.
Talking of support, do the Turkish population and your followers support this investigative content? How do they feel about your work?
I usually get positive reactions from followers. When I was in Turkey, it was more like activism, I was always in demonstrations. During the Gezi Park protests in 2013, there were a million people in the city, it was like an uprising and I was in it. At this time it wasn’t easy to separate my journalism and my activism. Now I am outside [of Turkey], I am not in this field anymore. My journalism changed, now I have whistleblowers, for example. In the past, I just went somewhere at the right time, reporting or investigating open source on the internet. Now it has changed, they want to know my comments about political things in Turkey. It’s interesting for me, but I think I like more investigative work or to be in the field.
I read a lot about censorship in Turkey and how websites keep being shut down. How does censorship affect your work?
I think I have an advantage about that – with using Twitter – because Twitter’s policy about that is usually helpful – not always – but still, I can have an account on Twitter. They [Turkish authorities] always try to block it. Even in Germany, they started to complain about German laws but nothing happened so far, they couldn’t do it. They used to block access to all of Twitter in Turkey but I take advantage of it. If I use a website, they can easily block it in Turkey, for example. Newspapers, websites, it is the same for all of them. Censorship is a really big problem in Turkey. We started to be familiar with it; it’s like normality now for us unfortunately.
Would you say you self censor yourself sometimes because maybe you could be threatened for your writings?
Yes, probably. I don’t know if it’s a danger for other people, but usually not for me. For other people in Turkey, my sources or other people. I think sometimes, maybe? Of course, if it is just dangerous for people, I have some self-censorship, probably, but I didn’t think about it so much so far.
If it’s a danger for other people, then you self censor, but what if it’s a danger for you?
I think my style and my language can be considered as very soft. It’s important for me to be in communication with all the people, the whole country. I don’t like the polarising social categories in Turkey. We are a polarised country. Usually there is no communication between the sides, I don’t like it, it’s not helpful for the country. We need to communicate, we need to understand each other, so my style reflects that. My observation is that the people, for example, who are supporters of the government in Turkey, don’t hate me. They follow me, they take some info from me, sometimes we communicate, sometimes they support me against their party. Of course, the managers, the big bosses, they hate me and want to do bad things to me. That’s why I don’t feel the need to censor myself, because the danger for me is usually from the big mafia, the government, or the judicial system in Turkey.
How is your relation to other journalists, other independent journalists? Do you support each other? Do you help each other with this investigative work?
Of course. In Turkey, we need it. We always need solidarity. I always felt this solidarity from my friends, from other journalists and I am trying to do the same. But again, I am not in a journalist network. There are these kinds of networks also in Turkey but I don’t have these kinds of connections – just friends.