An exiled Turkish journalist whose recent columns focused on state-mafia links in Turkey was beaten outside his home in Berlin on late July 7 by three attackers who threatened him to stop writing.

The attack sent a wave of alarm to the growing number of exiled journalists in Germany, who fear more attacks unless the German police and the government take a decisive stance on what they call “the arm of the Turkish government.” Press associations called on Berlin to investigate the attack fully, including “the possible involvement of Turkish state actors.”

“If there is no decisive action, there might be more attacks to come to intimidate and silence the journalists here,” Erk Acarer, an investigative journalist who specializes in organized crime, terrorism and religion, told Al-Monitor on the phone. “But I am not the least bit scared. These are the last struggles of a weakening government. We will not be silenced; we will prevail”.

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Can Dundar, another journalist who fled to Germany in 2016 to escape legal charges in Turkey, said that the attack was “a direct message to Germany from [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan: I have a long arm. We can attack a dissident journalist even in Berlin.”