Armenia Solidarity
(supported by Nor Serount Cultural Association)
c/o The Temple of Peace, Cardiff, Wales
Email: eilian@talktalk.net
el: 07718 982 732
invites you to events on
Hrant Dink Day, 19th January 2010 in the UK Parliament
At 1.00pm until 2.00pm: Silent Vigil outside the Turkish Embassy,
Belgrave Square (nr. Hyde Park Corner tube station)
with banners: "Turkey Face Your Past, Respect Your Minorities"
and also to these meetings in Parliament:
(RSVP to 07718982732 if possible)
Speakers include Ragip Zarakolu, founder of the Turkish Human Rights
Association and publisher, prosecuted 40 times, most recently for
publishing
a novel (see "My dreams are on trial" below)
1 Meeting in the House of Commons at 5.00pm (Committee Room 16).
Speakers:
Ragip Zarakolu: "Hrant Dink’s Vision",
Des Fernandes and Arzu Pesman: Kurdish Federation-(FEDBIR), "Problems
of the ‘Other’ and of ‘Minorities’ in Turkey",
Vardan Tadevossian "Rediscovering Turkish Armenia"
Ruth Barnett on "The shared Jewish and Armenian experience" The
consequences of the Genocide for Assyrians/Syriacs/Chaldaeans, leading
to their current problems in Iraq
Sponsor : Nia Griffith MP
The meeting will also be used to Promote EDM 287 by Dr Bob Spink on
the Holocaust and Andrew Dismore’s Presentation Bill to introduce a
national day to learn about and remember the Armenian genocide, to be
read a Second time on Friday 30 April, (Bill 42).
_____
2 Meeting in the House of Lords at 7.00pm (Committee Room 3A)
Launch of ‘Friends of Belge Press’ and ‘The Current Human Rights
Situation in Turkey’
Sponsor: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff
Speakers: Ragip Zarakolu,
Desmond Fernandes and Haci Ozdemir (International Committee Against
Disappearances – British Section).
Khatchatur I. Pilikian on "Holocaust and Genocide"
_____
Fictional characters from book on trial in Turkey: ‘My dreams are on
trial’
Fictional characters are being put on trial again in Turkey. "Ölümden
Zor Kararlar" (Decisions tougher than death), a novel by N. Mehmet
Güler that was published through Belge International Publishing last
March, has become the focus of a criminal case for making propaganda
for an illegal organization.
Author Güler and publisher Ragip Zarakolu are standing trial at the
Istanbul Court of Serious Crimes. The novel was added to the list of
banned books in June and copies have been recalled from the
market. The second hearing of the trial was held Dec. 3 and the next
hearing is on March 10.
Many writers and translators have been put on trial in recent years
under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. The first example of
imaginary characters standing trial occurred with Elif Þafak’s novel,
"The Bastard of Istanbul." Þafak stood trial for "insulting
Turkishness" through an Armenian character in her novel and was
acquitted.
‘My dreams are on trial’
The Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review talked to Güler and Zarakolu
right after the hearing. "The trial turned out to be like a present
for my 40th anniversary in journalism," said Zarakolu, who is a
founder of a human rights association and won many national and
international prizes for journalism. "Over 50 cases have been opened
against me; I have become addicted to it," he said. "Should the writer
be free in his thoughts or should he serve the principles of the state
and militarism?"
He compared current conditions to living in the era of Sultan
Abduülhamit and noted that the "oppressor mentality" must be
overcome. "These cases drag Turkey’s already bad image into a dead
end," he said.
"My dreams are on trial. They consider thoughts as crimes," Güler
said.
Autobiographic traces in the novel
The author of the novel tells stories of clashes between the right and
left in Turkey during the 1970s, Kurdish youth who head for the
mountains to join the ranks of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party,
or PKK, and torture experienced in prisons through characters named
Sýti, Sadri and Hayri.
Güler’s novel features autobiographic traces. He is of Kurdish origin
and was arrested in 1990 when he was a history student at Ankara
University on charges of having contact with illegal
organizations. Güler was put on trial and sentenced to 15 years. He
served the sentence at the Ulucanlar and Çankýrý prisons at Ankara. "I
was only 22 years old. They could not find anything criminal against
me; I had not made any action. They only determined that some of my
friends were members of [illegal] organizations; that was it," Güler
said.
Writings confiscated by prison administration
Güler did not stop writing during his prison years while he was trying
to prove his innocence. He wrote a three-volume book of 1,100 pages
called "Yakýnçað Kürt Tarihi" (Contemporary Kurdish History), which
was taken out of prison through personal efforts and published in
France. According to Güler, the book can be found all over Europe
today.
The writer also wrote two books of short stories called "Rüyalar yarým
Kalmaz" (Dreams do not cut in half) and "Vakit Tamamdý" (It was time).
"The prison administration confiscated them when I was being
released," said Güler. "The prosecutor told me, ‘If you take these
books with you, I will have you arrested again.’ I had no choice but
to leave them."
Self-censoring while writing
Güler said he practices self-censoring while writing due to his bad
experiences. "From time to time, I say to myself I should not write so
keenly here," he said, adding that he is ashamed of this.
He said "Ölümden Zor Kararlar" would be completed in three volumes and
the next two will be finished soon. The book will be translated into
foreign languages and will reach European readers next year. "I am a
writer of Kurdish origin. I was shaped by the problems my society is
experiencing; otherwise, my characters would not be this deep."
He ended by reflecting that the "Kurdish initiative" will help solve
the Kurdish problem "because there is no turning back from such a
road." (Hürriyet Daily News, Vercihan Ziflioðlu, December 9, 2009)
Accessed at:
_____
Ragýp Zarakolu
Ragýp Zarakolu (born 1948) is a Turkish human rights activist and
publisher who has long faced legal harassment for publishing books on
controversial subjects in Turkey, especially on minority and human
rights in Turkey.[1]
Biography
Ragýp Zarakolu was born in 1948 on Büyükada close to Istanbul. At that
time his father, Remzi Zarakolu, was the district governor on that
island. Ragýp Zarakolu grew up with members of the Greek and Armenian
minority in Turkey. In 1968 he began writing for "Ant" and "Yeni
Ufuklar" magazines.
In 1971 a military junta assumed power in Turkey. Ragýp Zarakolu was
tried on charges of secret relations to Amnesty International. He
spent five months in prison, before the charges were dropped. In 1972
Ragýp Zarakolu was sentenced to 2 years’ imprisonment for his article
in the journal Ant (Pledge) on Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnam War. He
stayed in Selimiye Prison (Istanbul) and was released in 1974
following a general amnesty.[2] On his release Zarakolu refused to
abandon his campaign for freedom of thought, striving for an "attitude
of respect for different thoughts and cultures to become widespread in
Turkey".
The Belge Publishing House, established in Istanbul in 1977 by
Zarakolu and his wife Ayþenur, has been a focus for Turkish censorship
laws ever since. Charges brought against the couple resulted in
imprisonment for both Ayþenur and Ragýp Zarakolu, the wholesale
confiscation and destruction of books and the imposition of heavy
fines.
In 1979 Ragýp Zarakolu was one of the founders of the daily newspaper
Demokrat and took responsibility for the news desk on foreign affairs.
The paper was banned with the military coup of 12 September 1980 and
Ragýp Zarakolu was shortly imprisoned in 1982 in connection with this
position in Demokrat. He was banned from leaving the country between
1971 and 1991.[2] In 1986 he became one of 98 founders of the Human
Rights Association in Turkey (HRA or in Turkish IHD). For some time
Ragýp Zarakolu chaired the Writers in Prison Committee of
International PEN in Turkey. Currently (beginning of 2007) he chairs
the Committee for Freedom of Publication in the Union of Publishers.
Until the military coup of 12 September 1980 Belge Publishing House
mostly published academic and theoretical books. Afterwards Belge
started to publish a series of books written by political
prisoners. The series of 35 books consisted of poems, shorts stories,
novels. The list of publications (see a list of selected publications
below) include more than 10 books (translations) of Greek literature,
10 books on the Armenian Question and five books related to the Jews
in Turkey. There are also a number of books dealing with the Kurds in
Turkey.[2]
He also has published several books on the Armenian Genocide[3], such
as George Jerjian’s The Truth Will Set Us Free: Armenians and Turks
Reconciled and Professor Dora Sakayan’s An Armenian Doctor in Turkey:
Garabed Hatcherian: My Smyrna Ordeal of 1922 – which brought new
criminal charges in 2005.[4] In November 2007 Zarakolu published David
Gaunt’s book "Massacres, resistance, protectors" about the Assyrian
Genocide in Turkish ("Katliamlar, Direniþ, Koruyucular")[5].
In 1995 the Belge Publishing House offices were firebombed by a far
right group, forcing it to be housed in a cellar. Since his wife’s
death in 2002, Zarakolu continued to face further prosecutions.
Trials
Recent court cases against Ragýp Zarakolu and Belge Publishing House
(until her death Ayþenur Zarakolu stood trial instead of him)
include[6]:
.2005-2007
Ragýp Zarakolu was indicted for the Turkish translation of Professor
Dora Sakayan’s book entitled An Armenian Doctor in
Turkey. G. Hatcherian: My Smyrna Ordeal in 1922, Montreal 1997.[4]
According to the indictment, Zarakolu was to be sentenced following
Article 301 new TPC (Article 159 of the former TPC). The first hearing
was set for 21 September at Istanbul Penal Court No 2.
On 20 September Istanbul Penal Court No 2 continued to hear the case
against Ragýp Zarakolu, owner of Belge Publishing House, in connection
with the book about the Armenian genocide entitled The Truth Will Set
Us Free written by the British writer George Jerjian.[4] The hearing
was adjourned to 22 November for investigation of the expert
report. The charges related to Article 301 new TPC (of June 2005). The
latest two cases were combined and further hearings were held on 21
November and 15 February, 19 April, 21 June and 14 December 2006.[8]
The next hearing was scheduled for 15 March 2007.
2008
In June 2008, Zarakolu was found guilty of "insulting the institutions
of the Turkish Republic" under Article 301 of the Turkish penal code
for translating and publishing Jerjian’s book. The judge sentenced him
to five months in prison. However, the judge, citing Zarakolu’s "good
behavior", stated that the author may avoid imprisonment by paying a
fine.[9]