AUTHOR ELIF SAFAK UNDER INVESTIGATION
Erol ONDEROGLU

BÝA, Turkey
June 8 2006

Istanbul – Elif Shafak, one of Turkey’s best selling authors and a
social scientist with a Master of Science degree in Gender and Woman
Studies, is under investigation for her March 2006 published book
“Father and Bastard” that was originally written in English.

Shafak and the book’s Turkish publishing house Metis director Semih
Sokmen testified to the Beyoglu Prosecutor’s Office this week in
relation to an investigation launched under article 301/1 of the
Turkish Penal Code.

The allegation of “insulting Turkishness” was brought forth in a
criminal complaint filed by nationalist lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz from
the Jurists Union. It is the same charge that was levelled at Turkey’s
internationally acclaimed writer Orhan Pamuk.

In their statement to the prosecution, Shafak and Sokmen stressed
that the book subject to investigation was a work of literature and
that comments and remarks taken from the scripts of the characters
in the book could not be used to level allegations against the author.

They said the complaint was unjust and that counter to the allegation,
the book targeted to broaden a culture of peace between people.

They said that making the book an issue of trial would not only deliver
a blow to the democratic developments and process in the country,
but would damage the interests of Turkey abroad.

The prosecution will decide within this month whether to level charges
against Shafak and the publishing house or dismiss the complaint.

Kerincsiz, the lawyer who filed the complaint against the book,
is known for his interventions during the Pamuk case where he not
only demanded new charges be launched against the author but wanted
to be accepted as an intervening party in the trial itself. He was
also present as the intervening side in the case launched against
five Turkish writers who criticised a court decision postponing the
Ottoman Armenian Conference in Istanbul.

“Father and Bastard” which was published on March 8 is already on the
best seller list and the book is sold in Turkey. Originally written
in English, the book is in the publishing schedule of Viking/Penguin
publishing house.

Elif Shafak, a Turkish citizen, was born in France and spent her
childhood in Spain. After studying political science in Turkey, she
held teaching positions in the United Kingdom, Turkey, and the United
States and then took the position of Assistant Professor in the Dept.
of Near Eastern Studies at University of Arizona.

Her publications include both novels and essays, among them The Saint
of Incipient Insanities, which was her first book published in English,
Bit Palas, Mahrem, which won the Turkish Writers’ Association Best
Novel of the Year Award, and Sehrin Aynalari. She has also published
reviews in The Economist, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Boston
Globe, and The Washington Post.

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