I am deeply convinced that we won’t have any development and the country will have no future if we suppress civil freedoms and the media. This is my deep conviction. It is a key institution that prevents the state from slipping down into the quagmire of totalitarianism. We have already lived in a totalitarian system and no matter how hard it tried to adapt itself to the external world, it didn’t work economically. A free press is the key instrument that guarantees the health of society.

Phone-in interview, ORT, 8 Feb 2000.