Stories From Turkey

Marco Ansaldo, the Istanbul-based senior correspondent for the Italian daily La Repubblica, shares with Ahval his impressions from his meeting with jailed author and journalist Ahmet Altan during Altan’s temporary release this month. The 69-year-old former editor-in-chief of the now defunct Taraf daily had been in jail since his arrest months after a failed coup attempt in 2016, which the Turkish government accuses a religious group led by the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gülen of orchestrating. The prominent journalist and author was re-arrested a week after a court ruled that he should be released from prison during his retrial. Rights group Article 19 said that imprisoning Altan again shortly after releasing amounted to psychological torture.