Armenian officials free Duke student

Chicago Tribune, IL
Aug 18 2005

Items compiled from Tribune news services
Published August 18, 2005

ISTANBUL, TURKEY — A Turkish scholar who was arrested in Armenia
two months ago was ordered freed after receiving a 2-year suspended
sentence for attempting to take old books out of the country.

Yektan Turkyilmaz, a doctoral student at Duke University whose plight
had prompted protests from intellectuals and former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole,
was convicted Tuesday of two counts of smuggling.

At the request of prosecutors, the sentence was suspended. Authorities
said Turkyilmaz can leave Armenia after the verdict takes effect
Aug. 31. He has been held for almost two months in a former KGB
facility in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital.

“I was, I am and I will remain a friend of the Armenians,” Turkyilmaz
was quoted as saying in the Armenian media as he announced plans to
continue studying the history of relations between the Armenians and
the Turks.

The Armenian government has not yet returned the computer disks on
which he had stored months of research from the Armenian national
archives.

Officials have said the research material will be returned to
Turkyilmaz when he leaves the country.