Perhaps you take your freedom to criticize your government for granted. Abdülhamit Bilici does not.

Perhaps you take your freedom to criticize your government for granted. Abdülhamit Bilici does not.

Two years ago, he was editor in chief of Turkey’s largest daily newspaper, Zaman. Today he considers himself lucky he’s driving for Uber in the U.S. and not sitting in a Turkish jail like dozens of his colleagues.

Bilici was on the journalistic front lines in Istanbul, reporting on how Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was eroding the rule of law and amassing power to himself. Then suddenly one evening, his paper was seized by the government, and he was fired. He fled the country to escape persecution and worse.

Last week he visited the Trumpet’s offices and told his riveting story. He shared his firsthand look at the transformation of a major modern nation, a pivotal NATO member—from democracy to an autocracy. Listen to today’s Trumpet Hour to get a hard look at what is happening in Turkey—a taste of the biblically prophesied “times of the gentiles.”