The account of the German-Turkish journalist’s imprisonment in Turkey and a clear political analysis of the Erdogan system
Deniz Yücel would “never” be turned over to Germany, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan explained in the spring of 2017 – certainly not as long as he remained in office. At that point, the German-Turkish journalist had been detained in the maximum-security prison Silivri No. 9 near Istanbul for two months. Ten months later, eventful circumstances finally resulted in his release.
The detainment of Welt’s Turkey correspondent gave rise to an enormous solidarity movement in Germany and was one of the greatest strains on German-Turkish relations since the Second World War. In his book, Deniz Yücel writes about how he spent this year in solitary confinement, the harassment he was subjected to and how he succeeded time and again in outwitting the guards. He describes what the support of his wife Dilek Mayatürk and the “Free Deniz” campaign meant to him, and why the refrigerator is the safest place to hide in a prison cell. It is a story of despotism and blackmail, but also a story of solidarity, love and resistance. At the same time, Deniz Yücel traces Turkey’s evolution in recent years – the promising new beginnings of the Gezi Park Protests, the Kurdish conflict, refugee crisis and attempted coup – up to its provisional conclusion: Erdogan’s consolidation of power with the elections in the spring of 2018.
