In 1985 he published an exposé of the mistreatment of Turkish Gastarbeiter (guest workers), immigrants who were discriminated against on the job and in society. He had disguised himself as one such worker, code name Ali Levent Sinirlioglu, found odd jobs and recorded his experiences. His book became a bestseller while he became a legend. As he recounted in Cologne, he has managed to travel to Turkey several times recently to attend trials, and he has even succeeded in getting out of the country, evidently because of his popularity as Ali. The report he presented of conditions there was chilling: with more than 150 journalists jailed for political reasons, Turkey has more than Russia, China and Iraq combined. There is a construction boom as a result, as 80 new jails are being built to accommodate the estimated 50,000 new political prisoners.