In a near-repeat of the CIA’s ‘extraordinary renditions’, the regime of Turkish president Erdoğan is kidnapping dozens of members of the Gülen movement from around the world. Victims are now raising a serious accusation: secret torture sites are part of the repression. A team of nine media organizations from eight countries, coordinated by CORRECTIV, investigates.
11. December 2018
It’s just before 8am, Thursday, 29 March this year, on the outskirts of the Kosovan capital Pristina. Two cars, a family saloon and a police patrol car are parked, next to a road-side nursery selling pot-plants and tree seedlings. Two men in police uniform approach the vehicle they’ve just flagged down. It appears to be a routine traffic inspection.
One of the officers talks to the driver through his window. Meanwhile his partner slowly circles round the back of the car. Without warning he pulls open the front passenger door, grabs the passenger by the throat, and forces him outside the vehicle. A woman jumps out of the rear, and starts remonstrating. While this is happening, the other officer drags out the driver, handcuffs him, and bundles him into the patrol car. His partner rushes to join him and they make their getaway.
About international cooperation in investigative journalism as well as more insights into this investigation.
BlackSitesTurkey is a joint cross-border investigation by nine media in eight countries, led by the non-profit newsroom CORRECTIV. You can find all publications listed here.
13 journalists from nine media in eight countries have investigated BlackSitesTurkey for months.
Oliver Schröm is Editor-In-Chief of CORRECTIV. He is one of the founders of the investigation The CumEx Files. He has authored ten investigative books, including bestsellers on scandals in intelligence, politics and healthcare. In 2010, he established the investigative unit of Stern magazine and was its head until he moved to German public broadcaster ARD’s investigative programme Panorama. He first reported on CumEx in 2014 for Stern magazine and revealed the extent of the scandal for Panorama.
Deputy Editor-In-Chief of CORRECTIV, Frederik coordinated the BlackSitesTurkey investigation. Prior to joining CORRECTIV, he worked as a Reuters correspondent and a freelance journalist for ten years in the Middle East and South East Asia. Frederik was part of the international team of journalists that revealed the largest tax theft in European history in the CumEx Files investigation.
Christian Rohde is deputy managing editor of Frontal 21. He studied social studies and journalism in Leipzig, Germany. He worked as a radio reporter for German broadcasters DLF, WDR, RBB and MDR and covered the media industry for magazine ‘epd medien’. After training at public broadcaster NDR he worked for ARD’s Panorama. He has worked at Frontal 21 since 2006 and has authored several award-winning TV documentaries.
Stefan Melichar is an investigative journalist at the Austrian publication Addendum, covering white-collar crime and corruption. He has regularly been part of international investigations including the Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks and the Panama Papers. Stefan was also part of the CORRECTIV-led investigation The CumEx Files.
Olaya Argüeso Pérez joined CORRECTIV as a data journalist in October 2018. She covered economics and finance when working for Spain’s top radio network, Cadena SER. With a humanities background, Olaya has discovered a new passion: coding, which, combined with traditional leg-work, she sees as a very powerful tool for taking investigative journalism to the next level. She was part of CORRECTIV’s The CumEx Files investigation and has covered BlackSitesTurkey for Spanish newspaper El Pais.
Ruth Fend is Deputy Editor-In-Chief at CORRECTIV and was part of CORRECTIV-led investigation The CumEx Files. Prior to joining CORRECTIV, Ruth was managing editor of German magazine Business Punk and Editor-In-Chief of Neon and Nido magazines. She has also wrote columns for Financial Times Deutschland and worked as the newspaper’s Beijing correspondent for three years.
Ulrich Stoll has been working for the investigative program Frontal21 of German public broadcaster ZDF since 2001, covering German politics, defence, intelligence and extremism. He has authored several crime novels, non-fiction books and TV documentaries, including on the right-wing NSU terror network, the propaganda machinery of Russian president Vladimir Putin and the 2016 Berlin Christmas market terror attack. Prior to working at Frontal21, Ulrich worked as a freelance journalist for German public broadcaster WDR.
Erkan Pehlivan is a freelance journalist, covering Turkey, German-Turkish relations and Islam for different newspapers. He was one of the first journalists to cover espionage by the Turkish mosque association Ditib after the coup attempt in 2016. He also covers Ditib and the influence of the Turkish state in Germany for ARD’s Panorama.
Rachel Goldberg is a journalist from Tel Aviv and currently a fellow at CORRECTIV on an International Journalists’ Programmes (IJP) fellowship. She is a reporter for daily Haaretz, where she previously edited the front page of the printed newspaper, and was an editor at the international news desk. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of The Whistle, the first independent fact-checking organization in Israel.
Claus Kragh is European editor at Monday Morning, a political weekly in Copenhagen, and a former correspondent of Danish daily Berlingske in Paris and Brussels. He also worked as a climate and energy as well as news editor at Berlingske. Claus Kragh writes about European politics – both on the national level in Denmark and in Europe as a whole. His areas of interest include politics, security, Russia, clean and dark energy as well as dark money.
Ola Westerberg is an award-winning investigative journalist at Swedish news agency TT. His areas of interest include human rights, terrorism and security issues. Ola was part of the Paradise Papers team and was also part of the CORRECTIV-led investigation The CumEx Files, which revealed the largest tax robbery in European history.
Nicolas Bourcier studied international relations at the Sorbonne in Paris. He taught for two years in Istanbul at the Universities of Istanbul and Yildiz. Back in France, he joined the daily newspaper Le Monde in 1997. He integrated the International service at the Europe desk. In 2004, he became reporter-at-large for the Magazine Le Monde 2. At the beginning of 2008, during the US campaign for the presidency, he rejoined the International service desk. From 2011 to 2015, he worked as the paper’s Brazil correspondent. This year, he was appointed deputy chief at the International section.
Lorenzo Bagnoli is an Italian investigative journalist. He has been working for IRPI (Investigative Reporting Project Italy) since 2012. He is mainly focused on corruption, transnational organised crime and migration. He has participated in international investigations like Mafia in Africa, Security for Sale and The Daphne Project.
Benjamin Schubert is communication designer at CORRECTIV. He created the design of the international investigation The CumEx Files. Prior to joining CORRECTIV, he worked in the publishing industry, in market research and digital marketing. Benjamin has founded a co-working space for artists in Berlin.
Ivo Mayr is a photographer and photo editor at CORRECTIV. He studied photography in Dortmund and has published his work in numerous magazines. His award-winning work has been featured in several exhibitions in Germany as well as internationally. Ivo also teaches architecture students at RWTH Aachen University and works as a freelance photographer.
CORRECTIV is the first non-profit investigative newsroom in the German-speaking region. Our work relies on donations. It is thanks to your support that we are independent, investigative and non-profit.
Project management: Frederik Richter, Oliver Schröm
Text: Frederik Richter, Ruth Fend
Design: Benjamin Schubert
Videos: Benjamin Schubert
Photos: Ivo Mayr, Byambasuren Byamba-Ochir/AFP (TT410)
Illustration: Ali Soozandeh/Frontal 21
Contributions: Bhrikuti Rai (Investigation), Madison Lang (Translation)