Turkey and free speech

Flying insults

Jul 27th 2006 | ANKARA
>From The Economist print edition

Another writer, another prosecution for insulting Turkey

A WILLOWY blonde, as fluent in Spanish and English as in her native Turkish,
Elif Shafak should be a poster girl for Turkey’s push to join Europe. Yet
most Europeans will become familiar with this award-winning novelist only
when she stands trial (by then heavily pregnant) later this year for
"denigrating Turkishness" in her latest novel, "The Bastard of Istanbul". A
fictional Armenian character’s musings about the mass slaughter of the
Ottoman Armenians in 1915 may yet land Mrs Shafak in jail for as long as
three years.

If so, she will have lots of company. The Turkish Publishers’ Association
says that 47 writers face prosecution, on charges ranging from insulting the
father of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, to defending conscientious objection
(though Perihan Magden, another woman novelist, was acquitted on this charge
on July 27th). Earlier this month, a high court confirmed a six-month jail
sentence handed down to Hrant Dink, a newspaper publisher, for an article in
which he exhorted fellow Armenians to expunge themselves of their hatred of
Turks. That too was construed as an insult to Turks.

Joost Lagendijk, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, has noted that
the clampdown on free expression, together with Cyprus and the Kurds,
constitute "the biggest obstacle" to Turkey’s hopes of joining the EU.
Ironically, Mr Lagendijk was himself investigated earlier this year for
"insulting Turkey".

Leading the drive to muzzle free speech is an ultra-nationalist lawyer,
Kemal Kerincsiz. He brought a case against Turkey’s best-known author, Orhan
Pamuk, which was dismissed in January. A rise in nationalist sentiment has
allowed Mr Kerincsiz to keep hounding writers such as Mrs Shafak. Some think
he is an agent of the "deep state", a shadowy coalition of rogue members of
the security establishment who allegedly oppose Turkey’s EU aspirations.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress