President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to create chaos in Turkey to win the next elections, scheduled for June 2023, Former Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dundar told FRANCE 24 television channel.

In 2016, Dundar was sentenced to five years in prison for publishing a video showing Turkish arms smuggling to jihadists in Syria. He fled to Germany in 2016 after an attempt on his life during his trial.

Erdogan has become the biggest media tycoon in Turkey, so he owns the media. Businessmen close to him have bought the media in Turkey. Almost 80 percent of the media are now controlled by Erdogan. The rest are either threatened or already in jail. So we are left with only social networks and media in exile, Dundar noted.

Under a new law passed by Turkey's parliament in October, reporters and social media users can be sentenced to up to three years in prison for spreading "fake news. Dundar noted that "we only have six months until the elections, and of course this gives Erdoğan a huge advantage.

Erdogan "is doing everything he can to stay in power (...) and that is why he is trying to launch a military operation against Syria; just yesterday he threatened Greece. He is trying to create a certain atmosphere of chaos, to convince people that the country needs a strong leader, not a coalition government," Dundar concluded.