20 September 2006
INTERNATIONAL PEN SUPPORTS WRITERS FACING TRIALS
Representatives of International PEN will be traveling to Istanbul, Turkey this week to lend support to dozens of writers who have been charged for "insulting Turkishness" under a provision in the Criminal Code that has been widely criticised for being draconian.
One of the higher profile trials involves the well-known writer Elif Shafak, who will appear in court on 21 September 2006. She has been charged under Article 301 of the Code. The case relates to her book "Baba ve Pic" ("Father and Bastard"), which is to be published in English later this year under the title "The Bastard of Istanbul". The charges stem from a passage in the novel in which one of the characters refers to the deaths of Armenians during the First World War as genocide.
International PEN says Shafak is among 18 other writers, journalists and publishers currently on trial in Turkey under Article 301. They include Ragip Zarakolu, who is being accused of insulting Turkishness by publishing two books that refer to the deportations and massacres of Armenians by Turkish forces in the early 1900s. He is due to attend a court hearing on 5 October.
Article 301, which came into effect in June 2005, states that "A person who explicitly insults being a Turk, the Republic or Turkish Grand National Assembly, shall be imposed to a penalty of imprisonment for a term of six months to three years."
Last year, Turkey attracted widespread international criticism after acclaimed writer Orhan Pamuk was charged under the law. He had stated in an interview that "thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians were killed and nobody but me dares to talk about it." A court threw out his case for lack of evidence.
Visit these links:
- International PEN: http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/index.php?pid=33&aid=489
- PEN American Center: http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/694/prmID/172
- BIANet: http://www.bianet.org/2006/09/01_eng/news85419.htm
- Profile of Elif Shafak: http://www.elifsafak.net/biography.html
- Initiative for Freedom of Expression: http://www.antenna-tr.org/
(Photo of Elif Shafak courtesy of PEN American Center)
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