The screws on free expression are tightening in the run-up to the April 16 referendum on boosting the powers of Turkey’s presidency, and the country's mainstream media is a zealously self-censoring accomplice.

Orhan Pamuk, a celebrated novelist and Turkey’s first Nobel laureate, joined the ranks of the silenced when Hurriyet axed an interview with him that was meant to run on Feb. 13.

Pamuk confirmed that he had spoken at length with Cansu Camlibel, the newspaper’s newly appointed Washington correspondent. The interview was presumably censored because Pamuk said he would be voting against the superpresidency, which would concentrate near absolute power in the office. Pamuk told a Turkish advocacy group, “I said I would be saying no and explained why. Unfortunately, the news is true. In the end the interview was not published.”

Dogan Holding, the conglomerate that owns Hurriyet, had already provoked a furor when it sacked a prime-time anchor from its flagship Kanal D TV channel. Iran Degirmenci was fired last week after declaring that he would vote against the referendum.