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Editorial, September 17, 2006
The upcoming trial of best-selling Turkish novelist
Elif Shafak has reopened the debate surrounding a
decades-long struggle for freedom of speech in
Turkey. On Sept. 21, four days before she is due to
give birth, Mrs. Shafak will face charges of
"insulting Turkishness," a crime under Article 301
of Turkey's penal code. If convicted, she could
spend up to three years in prison.
It is no secret that, in terms of its commitment to
freedom of speech, Turkey has a less-than-stellar
track record. In fact, according to PEN American
Center, an international literary and human-rights
organization, Mrs. Shafak is one of "more than 70
writers, publishers, and journalists who are
currently under indictment or standing trial in
Turkey" for similar offenses. This most recent
example of literary stifling is especially
remarkable, however, because Mrs. Shafak is being
prosecuted for the words of a fictional character.
In her newest book, "The Bastard of Istanbul," a
character says, "I am the grandchild of genocide
survivors who lost all their relatives in the hands
of Turkish butchers in 1915, but I myself have been
brainwashed to deny the genocide." The mere mention
of the Armenian Genocide, arguably one of the most
highly contested events in Turkish history, has
landed countless men and women in the same
predicament as Mrs. Shafak. She told the Associated
Press, "I think my case is very bizarre because for
the first time they are trying fictional
characters."
Other free-speech trials have been thrown out for
technical reasons in recent years. However,
pressures from Europe for Turkey to prove its
dedication to improving human rights may have
prompted officials to drop charges. Nonetheless,
such trials send a clear message to all Turkish
writers: "Blaspheme at your own risk." Mrs. Shafak's
trial in particular begs the question: If convicted,
what is the future of creative expression in Turkey?
Perhaps more intriguing is the correlation between
the fight for free speech in Turkey and the
country's application for membership into the
European Union. Kemal Kerincsiz, a member of an
ultranationalist group of lawyers known as the
"Unity of Jurists," led the crusade against Mrs.
Shafak. Groups such as this, while not necessarily
garnering much mainstream Turkish support, appear to
be pushing speech prosecution in an attempt to
imperil Turkey's application to the European Union.
These nationalists insist that they will not bow to
European requests -- for example, by acknowledging
the Armenian Genocide -- merely to gain membership
into the European Union.
It seems that by and large, Turks support free
speech rights and EU membership but for this small
faction of nationalist extremists. The irony is that
those extremists -- who promote building a stronger
Turkey by remaining true to its Eastern heritage --
are actually destabilizing the country by
jeopardizing its future as an EU member.
washtimes com
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan".
Others estimate as many as 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq,Turkey,Syria,Iran,Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey
The Kurdish flag flown in Iraqi Kurdistan but
unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag is
banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it is
a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
First world war
massacres | Related
issue:
Armenian Genocide by Turkish Muslims against
Christians
Turkey faces international pressure to recognise
that more than 1 million Armenians were massacred
during a 1915 campaign of ethnic cleansing by
Ottoman Turks. Turkish officials claim that most
deaths were caused by hunger and disease.
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