Exiled Turkish journalist attacked in Berlin

BERLIN: Turkish journalist Erk Acarer, one of several reporters critical of Ankara living in exile in Berlin, said on Thursday he was attacked and injured outside his home and told to stop writing.

Acarer said in a video posted to Twitter that three armed assailants ambushed him in the courtyard of his building late Wednesday in an account confirmed by police. A unit that investigates political crimes has taken over the probe.

The reporter, a columnist for the left-wing Birgun newspaper, said he was treated in hospital and released. Acarer, who has lived in Germany since 2017, said he recognised the attackers and that one warned him against continuing to write.

Accusing the ruling AKP and the nationalist MHP of involvement in the assault, Acarer vowed to keep working as a journalist. Turkish authorities have issued multiple arrest warrants against Acarer with regard to his articles and social media messages, including one accusation of "insulting the president" over a news article published in 2020.

Fellow Turkish dissident writer Can Dundar, who fled to the German capital in 2016, slammed the assault on Twitter as a "direct message" from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to show that Ankara "can even attack a journalist in Berlin who is critical of the regime". A Turkish court in December sentenced Dundar, the former editor-in-chief of the Cumhuriyet daily, to more than 27 years in jail on espionage and terror charges for one of the reputable paper’s stories.