International PEN calls for an end to publisher Ragip Zarakolu's trials
19 September 2005
International Freedom of Expression and Exchange
Source: Writers in Prison Committee, International PEN
[...]
In the next four weeks Zarakolu will be brought before courts three times in three separate cases.
On 20 September an Istanbul court will preside over the latest in a series of hearings initiated in March this year against Zarakolu's publication of George Jerjian's book History Will Free All of Us/Turkish-Armenian Conciliation. The book is said to be "insulting" to the memory of Kemal Atatürk by suggesting that leading government figures close to Atatürk had been responsible for the mass deportation of Armenians in 1915. Zarakolu is being charged under articles of the Penal Code (art. 159/1 and art. 5186) that have since been removed following penal revisions put into place in June this year.
The next day, another hearing will be held under the same law - this time for Zarakolu's publication of a book by Professor Dora Sakayan's An Armenian Doctor in Turkey: Garabed Hatcherian: My Smyrna Ordeal of 1922.
On 11 October, Zarakolu will yet again appear in court to hear the latest in a series of hearings that started in May 2004 for an article published in 2003 entitled, "Sana Ne" ("Of No Interest") that criticised Turkey's policy towards the Kurds in Iraq. As for the hearing on 20 September, he is being tried under a law that has changed since the introduction of the new Penal Code.
Zarakolu has long been an advocate for minority and human rights in Turkey. [...]. Unable to publish certain works within Turkey, Zarakolu turned to the international market, whilst he circumvented the ban on criticism of Turkey's military regime by turning his attention to abuses of human rights by governments in South America and elsewhere. The Belge Publishing House, established in Istanbul in 1977 by Zarakolu and his equally eminent wife Ayse Nur, has been a focus for Turkish censorship laws ever since. [...]. In 1995 the Belge Publishing House offices were firebombed by an extremist rightist group, forcing it to be housed in a cellar. Since his wife's death in 2002 Zarakolu has continued to face numerous prosecutions of which his current trials are all too familiar.
[...]
{Please send your protest to the Turkish embassy in Canada with a copy to your MP}.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
International Freedom of Expression and Exchange
Source: Writers in Prison Committee, International PEN
[...]
In the next four weeks Zarakolu will be brought before courts three times in three separate cases.
On 20 September an Istanbul court will preside over the latest in a series of hearings initiated in March this year against Zarakolu's publication of George Jerjian's book History Will Free All of Us/Turkish-Armenian Conciliation. The book is said to be "insulting" to the memory of Kemal Atatürk by suggesting that leading government figures close to Atatürk had been responsible for the mass deportation of Armenians in 1915. Zarakolu is being charged under articles of the Penal Code (art. 159/1 and art. 5186) that have since been removed following penal revisions put into place in June this year.
The next day, another hearing will be held under the same law - this time for Zarakolu's publication of a book by Professor Dora Sakayan's An Armenian Doctor in Turkey: Garabed Hatcherian: My Smyrna Ordeal of 1922.
On 11 October, Zarakolu will yet again appear in court to hear the latest in a series of hearings that started in May 2004 for an article published in 2003 entitled, "Sana Ne" ("Of No Interest") that criticised Turkey's policy towards the Kurds in Iraq. As for the hearing on 20 September, he is being tried under a law that has changed since the introduction of the new Penal Code.
Zarakolu has long been an advocate for minority and human rights in Turkey. [...]. Unable to publish certain works within Turkey, Zarakolu turned to the international market, whilst he circumvented the ban on criticism of Turkey's military regime by turning his attention to abuses of human rights by governments in South America and elsewhere. The Belge Publishing House, established in Istanbul in 1977 by Zarakolu and his equally eminent wife Ayse Nur, has been a focus for Turkish censorship laws ever since. [...]. In 1995 the Belge Publishing House offices were firebombed by an extremist rightist group, forcing it to be housed in a cellar. Since his wife's death in 2002 Zarakolu has continued to face numerous prosecutions of which his current trials are all too familiar.
[...]
{Please send your protest to the Turkish embassy in Canada with a copy to your MP}.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 6:45 AM
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