Turkish historian given suspended sentence for violating Armenian antique book law

AP Worldstream; Aug 16, 2005

A Yerevan court on Tuesday handed a two-year suspended sentence to a
Turkish historian who tried to leave the country with centuries-old
books, in violation of Armenian law.

Yektan Turkyilmaz, 33, was leaving from Yerevan June 17, when Armenian
security agents pulled him from his plane. He was carrying 88 books,
some of which dated back to the 17th century, authorities said.

Armenian law prohibits anyone from taking a book that is more than
50 years old out of the country without permission. Authorities did
not return the books to Turkyilmaz.

Turkyilmaz is the only Turkish scholar to be allowed to study in
Armenia, which has tense relations with Turkey, due to lingering
bitterness over the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey during World
War I and Turkey’s support of Armenia’s regional rival, Azerbaijan.

Turkyilmaz, who was freed after the ruling, told reporters that he
planned to spend another two weeks working in Yerevan before returning
to Istanbul then North Carolina, where he is a doctoral student at
Duke University.