CAN YOU SUE CHARACTERS IN A NOVEL?
Nazlan Ertan

The New Anatolian, Turkey
June 8 2006

The case faced by Turkey’s bright new writer Elif Safak will
demonstrate not only a judicial but a philosophical question: “Can
you sue characters in a novel?”

According to Kemal Kerincsiz, an Istanbul-based lawyer and a member of
the Jurists Union Association who had his 15 minutes of fame when he
sued the organizers of the Armenian Conference in Istanbul and European
Parliament Deputy Joost Lagendijk for “insulting Turkishness,” yes. If
a fictional character cannot be sued, then the author who created it
certainly can be.

He has, after all, filed a complaint against Safak and her
publisher for remarks made by of several characters in Safak’s latest
best-seller, “Baba ve Pic” (Father and Bastard). Kerincsiz says that
certain remarks made by fictitious characters violate Article 301 of
the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), the infamous article about “insulting
Turkishness.”

The characters are “aunts” in the novel that tells the story of two
families, a Turkish-Muslim one and an Armenian one, over a period
of 90 years. In this book, men die and women stay alive. So do their
strong opinions, prejudices and memories.

The phrase accused of insulting the Turkishness is precisely such
a memory. “I am the grandchild of a family whose children were
slaughtered by the Turkish butchers,” or “I was brought up having to
deny my roots and say that genocide did not exist,” are the challenged
sentences from the mouth of the characters.

Safak went to court to testify on Tuesday, claiming that she didn’t
believe that taking certain parts or sentences from a novel could
either be legal or accurately portray the story.

“If a character in a book describes a murder or commits one, does that
mean that the writer approves of it?” asked Safak when she testified
with her publisher, Semih Somken of Metis Publishing House.

More where this came from

Safak’s somewhat surrealistic case comes during a week when freedom
of the press and freedom of _expression cases are high on Turkey’s
agenda, including a case against Perihan Magden, possibly Turkey’s
best writer of the post-Orhan Pamuk generation.

Radikal columnist Professor Murat Belge will appear in court today for
“trying to influence the judiciary” by criticizing an administrative
court decision that postponed last year’s Armenian conference in
Istanbul. His article entitled “A Court Verdict” falls under the scope
of Article 288 of the TCK. Radikal newspaper reporter Ismail Saymaz
is also accused under the same article for his news report entitled
“Torture allegation involving an 11-year-old child.”

Also today, sociologist Pinar Selek, known for her research into
children outcast from society and the Kurdish problem, will face
charges that she is responsible for a bomb explosion at Istanbul’s
historic Spice Market. She has been charged under Article 125 of the
TCK and, if found guilty, could be given a life sentence.

The Beyoglu Second Criminal Court of First Instance will hear the case
against jurist Hasip Kaplan, who is on trial for remarks he made on
Flash TV’s program “Alternatif.” He is accused of inciting hatred.

Another publishing house owner, Ahmet Onal, sentenced last week
in relation to another book will be tried this Friday in the Fatih
Second Criminal Court of First Instance on charges of insulting modern
Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk by publishing the book “Being
an Alawite in Dersim.” The book, authored by Munzur Cem and Huseyin
Baysulun, is only one of 27 charges leveled against the publisher.

Many find that the political elite’s attitude toward the Turkish
intellectuals, whether writers, caricaturists or journalists, lies
at the heart of the judicial stance. Prime Minister Erdogan, who has
sued several journalists and columnists, including Musa Kart who drew
him as a cat tangled in yarn, has lost most of his cases.

Shoe on the other foot

But there are those who strike back: Professor Yalcin Kucuk has
sued Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a large spectrum of
issues ranging from corruption to providing unfair advantage to
family members.

Kucuk, known for his inexhaustible knowledge of history and sharp
wit, accused the premier of giving his family members “free rides”
on the official prime ministerial plane. He said that costs that they
accumulate during official visits should be repaid unless Erdogan’s
family was officially invited by the host.

Kucuk also accused the premier of usurping funds and abuse of
authority.