Showing posts with label Ragip Zarakolu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ragip Zarakolu. Show all posts

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Fighting for Free Speech in Turkey

BBC: Hundreds of writers have been prosecuted in Turkey for "insulting Turkishness", but Sarah Rainsford discovers that there are still some people willing to publish controversial books.

It is a very difficult time to be a writer in Turkey.

Last year the prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, was murdered. This year, an ultra-nationalist gang allegedly had the Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk on its hit list.

Both men had been prosecuted for "insulting Turkishness".

Today, many writers once known for their forthright views have fallen silent. But one man is still putting himself on the line in a fight for free speech.

I found Ragip Zarakolu in one of the dimly-lit corridors of the Sultanahmet courthouse waiting to be called for his latest trial.

A small man with grey curls and crinkled kindly eyes, Mr Zarakolu is a publisher on a mission to shatter every taboo in Turkey.

As a result, he once admitted to me with characteristic chuckle he is now the most prosecuted publisher in the country.

This time he is also accused of "insulting Turkishness" under article 301 of the penal code.

The case was opened after he published the work of a British writer. It was the story of the writer's family in 1915, when hundreds of thousands of Ottoman Armenians were deported as traitors during World War I. Turkey's taboos >>>

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

A Possible Three-Year Jail Term for for Ragip Zarakolu for Promoting Reconciliation Between Turks and Armenians!

THE GUARDIAN:
· British author fears attack over Armenian book
· Ankara accepts need for change, says Labour MEP


Nearly two years after the internationally acclaimed author Orhan Pamuk narrowly escaped imprisonment for statements that were thought to "insult Turkishness", the publisher of a British writer goes on trial today accused of the same charge.

Ragip Zarakolu is facing up to three years in prison for publishing a book - promoting reconciliation between Turks and Armenians - by George Jerjian, a writer living in London.

Jerjian's book, The Truth Will Set Us Free, which was translated into Turkish in 2005, chronicles the life of his Armenian grandmother who survived the early 20th century massacres of Armenians thanks to an Ottoman soldier. The historical account has prompted as much controversy among the Armenian diaspora, not least in the US, as it has in Turkey. Trial of publisher revives row over Turkish 'insult' law >>> By Helena Smith in Athens

Mark Alexander (Hardback)
Mark Alexander (Paperback)