UA asst. professor acquitted of insulting Turks
The Associated Press
Tucson Citizen, AZ
Sept 22 2006
ISTANBUL, Turkey – A University of Arizona assistant professor who is
one of Turkey’s leading authors was acquitted Thursday of "insulting
Turkishness" in a novel that touched on the mass killings of Armenians
during the final years of the Ottoman Empire.
The panel of judges said there was no evidence to support the charge
against Elif Shafak, who gave birth Saturday and did not attend
her trial.
Shafak, who is on a one-year leave from her teaching post in UA’s
department of Near Eastern studies, expressed satisfaction with the
verdict and called for greater freedoms and tolerance.
"You would counter writing with writing, not with a gun," Shafak
told private NTV television about protests and scuffles that took
place outside the courtroom after the verdict was read. "Insulting
Turkishness? According to whom? Who determines it?"
Shafak said the law on insulting Turkishness "has been used as a
weapon to silence many people. . . . My case is perhaps just another
step in this long chain."
Shafak’s publisher said her acquittal was a relief and that there
should be more tolerance in Turkey.
"We want a country where people are not interrogated because of
their novels," said Muge Sokmen, Shafak’s publisher. "As the public,
we need to be more tolerant to the thoughts of others."
Shafak was charged over the words uttered by fictional Armenian
characters in her novel "The Bastard of Istanbul." In the book,
an Armenian character refers to "Turkish butchers."
Turkey’s mass expulsion of Armenians during World War I, which
Armenians say was part of a genocide that claimed 1.5 million lives,
is a dark chapter rarely discussed in Turkey or taught in its schools.
The court, which opened Shafak’s trial earlier Thursday, concluded in
an hour-plus session that there was insufficient evidence to suggest
that she committed a crime.
She could have faced three years in prison.
The European Union has warned Turkey that putting writers and
journalists on trial for their speech could hamper its efforts to
join the bloc.
Riot police contained angry nationalist protesters who briefly scuffled
with another group outside the court room after the ruling.
A small group of nationalist lawyers outside the courthouse burned
a picture of Shafak in protest.
Some protesters held a European Union flag adorned with a Nazi swastika
in the middle and a slogan that read: "EU fascism."
The protesters were also holding several Turkish flags.
Her book was released in Turkey on March 8 and has sold more than
50,000 copies.
A Turkish court dropped charges last year against Orhan Pamuk, one
of the country’s most famous novelists, who faced trial on charges
of insulting Turkishness for commenting on the killings of Armenians.
The charges were dropped for technical reasons amid intense
international pressure.
A high court recently confirmed a six-month prison sentence imposed on
Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink for attempting to influence the
judiciary after his newspaper ran articles criticizing the law that
makes it a crime to insult Turkishness. Dink’s sentence was suspended.