Turkish journalist Sedef Kabash, who has been targeted by the authorities on several occasions, spoke exclusively to N1 about the first round of elections held in the Republic of Turkey and about estimates for May 28, when the final round of elections will be held in that country.

Kabash, a journalist with an international career that includes working for CNN in Atlanta, said she worries that Turkey is slowly sliding toward an autocratic regime and that Erdogan has deepened divisions among the Turkish people.

“Erdogan represents the idea – either you are with me or you are against me. His sympathizers see me as a threat. I was put on trial because of a post on social networks, and last year I was also detained because of a folk proverb spoken in a TV program,” Kabash told N1.

She believes that opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, unlike Erdogan, used the language that unites people in Turkey. In addition, Kabash claims that the division among the Turks was already demonstrated in the first round.

“There is a clear desire of part of the population to live in a democracy, to be oriented towards the West, to empower women and fight corruption, but that is the image of only one part of the electorate. We also have other – conservative, religious and nationalist-oriented voting body. They have a certain distance from Western values, and it was the first round of elections that showed the difference between those two groups in Turkey,” she said.

Sedef Kabash often faces inconvenience because of her views, but she says that – despite of everything – she remains committed to freedom of speech.

“It's hard to say that I feel safe because we are aware of the danger we are exposing ourselves to. We know that we are facing imprisonment and threats, but also slander on social networks. Some of my colleagues lost their jobs. However, there is no use living in fear because I am telling the truth and besides the truth, I have nothing else to say,” N1’s interlocutor said.

Sedef Kabash is a well-known Turkish journalist who graduated from Bogazichi University in 1992 in the field of international relations. She earned postgraduate qualifications in journalism at the American University in Boston. Kabash worked for CNN International in Atlanta as an associate producer where she reported on topics related to the Middle East, Europe and the Balkans.