Switzerland Today
Greetings from Bern,
Have you heard of Can Dündar? He is one of the most prominent critics of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The journalist, who lives in exile in Germany, is today's guest in our series "Global Voices of Freedom".
Can Dündar: the name is a symbol of unwavering opposition to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Turkish journalist remains a major critic of Erdogan – and has been targeted by the government. After he revealed in 2015 that Turkey was illegally supplying weapons to Syria, Dündar was accused of espionage and supporting terrorism.
Today, he lives in Germany and is editor-in-chief of the web radio Özgürüz. He continues his fight for a democratic Turkey from exile. In an interview with SWI swissinfo.ch, he says: “Freedom to express your opinion is like breathing, like drinking water, like feeding hunger. Unfortunately, in our country, we haven’t been able to breathe for quite some time, we’re thirsty and hungry.” It is the job of journalists to “clear the airways”.
Other recent Swiss coverage on the upcoming Turkish elections on May 14: Opposition leader Kilicdaroglu takes on ErdoganExternal link and His end is near: Erdogan faces a knockoutExternal link
Pope Francis deplores ‘Third World War’
It is not every day that we publish an interview with the pope. Today is one of those days.
“To me war is a crime; it’s something that’s simply not acceptable. In little more than a century there have been three world wars: 1914-1918, 1939-1945, and now this one, which is a world war,” he says.
This is what Pope Francis has to say about Russia’s war against Ukraine. When it broke out, he offered Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov the opportunity to negotiate with Putin in Moscow. But he refused, saying that now was “not the right time”.
Other recent Swiss coverage of the pope: Pope Francis wants to go to Kyiv – and Moscow and Child abuse covered up? Backlash in Poland to Pope’s revelations External link
Qatar is said to have collected incriminating material against the former Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber.
This is what is suggested by new information published by the NZZ am SonntagExternal link on Qatar’s espionage affair surrounding last year’s football World Cup.
It all goes back to the ominous third secret meeting between Lauber and FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who was under investigation by the Swiss Attorney General’s Office. Lauber always stated that he could no longer remember the meeting held at the five-star Schweizerhof hotel in Bern. The hotel is owned by Qatar and houses the Qatari embassy. According to the NZZ am Sonntag, the meeting room was bugged.
A Swiss intelligence expert suspects that the Qataris might have collected incriminating material against Lauber as leverage in case Lauber’s investigation had become dangerous for the World Cup host.
Other Swiss coverage of the allegations of espionage against Qatar: “They probably wanted incriminating material against Lauber”External link.
Is a large conference centre near Basel a base for a German separatist movement?
A hotel in the municipality of Hölstein has new guests. According to an investigation by the Tages-Anzeiger,External link the hotel hosts events organised by the so-called Reichsbürger, or Reich Citizens movement. These are people who believe in conspiracy theories that the state is not legitimate and should be overthrown. As in Germany, this group is interested in acquiring buildings and land to use as platforms for spreading their beliefs.
Other Swiss coverage of separatist groups: Switzerland drags feet over German Reichsbürger investigationsExternal link and Müllheim – Community with a state in the village
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