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`Insulting Turkishness´ case reopens against bestselling author

Richard Lea

Friday July 7, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

A decision in Istanbul’s seventh high criminal court this week has reopened the prosecution of bestselling Turkish novelist Elif Shafak on charges of “insulting Turkishness”. She faces a maximum jail term of three years if convicted.
The charges were brought under Article 301 the Turkish criminal code, which was also used in the prosecution of Orhan Pamuk earlier this year. The charges were reportedly based on remarks made by a character of Armenian ancestry in her novel, The Bastard of Istanbul – the character describes the death of Armenians during the first world war as a genocide. The case was thrown out last month after Shafak argued that the book was a work of literature and that comments made by fictional characters could not be used to press charges against an author.

But following a complaint filed by Kemal Kerincsiz, a member of a group of rightwing lawyers known as the Unity of Jurists, the seventh high criminal court has overruled the decision not to proceed, reigniting a process that could end with jail sentences for Shafak, her publisher, Semi Sokmen, and her translator, Asli Bican.

“The situation in Turkey has changed since the introduction of Article 301 last year,” Sara Whyatt, director of the Writers in Prison Committee at International PEN, told the Guardian today. “One has seen mainstream writers such as Orhan Pamuk, Perihan Magden and Elif Shafak being prosecuted.

“It seems to me that these prosecutions are being driven by a rightwing element within the Turkish judiciary, which is concerned about the Turkish application to join the EU,” she added.

Whyatt did not expect Shafak’s case to be resolved quickly. “So far nobody has been convicted under Article 301,” she said, “but I think the trials are intended to harass and intimidate these writers and journalists. They often take many months and many hearings, often accompanied by violence inside and outside the courts. Elif Shafak is at the beginning of what could be a long and painful process.”

She expressed dismay at recent events in Turkey – more than 60 writers and journalists have faced trial in the past year, many under Article 301: “International PEN is calling for this prosecution to be halted, and for the laws that allow for writers and journalists to be prosecuted, simply for their writing, to be removed once and for all.”

Writer and translator Maureen Freely, who attended the trial of Orhan Pamuk earlier this year, described a campaign of choreographed intimidation against writers and their supporters. “These prosecutions are all being targeted by bands of disciplined fascists. Although the police who are there have now undertaken to protect the defendants, they first and foremost protect the fascist agitators and give them an opportunity to harass and intimidate all those who have gone to support fellow writers or observe the trial, both inside and outside the court house.”

She compared the atmosphere in Istanbul to Germany in 1935. “People are getting a lot of intimidation,” she said. “This is very sinister and you have to ask, in a country which is ably governed, why this is being allowed to happen.”

Freely pointed to a resurgence in academia and the arts, and a willingness to examine a wide range of subjects that have been taboo: “There is a dynamic group of writers, academics, feminists and publishers, some of whom have mixed ethnic backgrounds, who are exercising their democratic rights to explore these issues.”

These efforts were under-reported in the western media, which chose to focus on the forces reacting to it, she said. “It’s a bit scary,” she added, “but I’m impressed by what people are writing, singing and publishing, and I just want to ensure that they are able to continue to do so.”

A date has not yet been set for Shafak’s trial.

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