Paper short abstract:

Journalists, academics, intellectuals, and artists in Turkey have increasingly faced persecution and imprisonment for criticising state practices. How the global audience hears their critique is the question I aim to answer in this paper.

Paper long abstract:

With the statutory decrees released by the government since the declaration of a state of emergency after the failed coup attempt of 15 July 2016, the vast majority of alternative/oppositional online news channels in Turkey was closed down - together with print media. Nowadays, the financial support of international organisations enables a limited number of online news portals to survive. After independent journalism has become almost wholly extinguished in Turkey, we can observe an 'epidemic of' 'brain drain' of journalists who until then had shaped Turkish public discourse significantly. Journalists, academics and artists have emigrated to Europe, particularly Germany, which has become the new centre for critical news production on Turkey. They established new networks and communities by mobilising social and historical ties with Europe. In this paper, I provide preliminary findings of my research on this group of cultural producers - particularly journalists - and discuss the ways in which their criticism directed towards the government at home circulated and received in Europe.