Heavy clashes occurred between demonstrators and the police before and after a meeting of PM Erdoğan in Hopa in north-eastern Turkey. The police threw many gas bombs and made use of water cannons. One person died, many protestors and policemen were injured.

One of the leaders of the 1980 military coup died in an Istanbul hospital Monday, hours before a prosecutor called the last two coup leaders still living to testify.

Academic and journalist colleagues from abroad nowadays often ask me questions as to whether freedom of expression and freedom of the press are increasingly being restricted and whether the opposition is being silenced by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in Turkey. Some of them, more familiar with the realities of Turkey, wonder how it could be that, according to, for example, the Reporters Without Borders (RFS) index, Turkey ranks 138th among 178 countries in terms of press freedoms, being among the worst 40. This is how I respond to such questions.