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Agence France Presse -- English
July 28, 2006 Friday 3:36 PM GMT
Another Turkish writer to stand trial for book on Armenian massacres
ISTANBUL, July 28 2006
A prosecutor has sought up to three years in jail for prominent
Turkish author Elif Shafak for a novel dealing with the massacres of
Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, the Anatolia news agency reported
Friday.
Shafak, 35, was charged with "denigrating the Turkish national
identity" in lines uttered by fictional Armenian characters in her
novel, "The Bastard of Istanbul," or, in Turkish, "Baba ve Pic" (The
Father and the Bastard), Anatolia reported.
The case appears certain to draw angry reactions from the European
Union, which has warned Turkey that the prosecution of intellectuals
and journalists is casting a pall on its bid for membership.
The EU has urged Ankara to amend article 301 of its penal code, under
which Shafak is charged. The article has landed many intellectuals in
court.
They include Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who received a
six-month suspended sentence, and Turkey's best-known novelist, Orhan
Pamuk, who saw the case against him dropped.
Much to Turkey's ire, the massacres, which took place during World
War I, have been recognized as genocide by many countries and open
debate of the issue often sends nationalist sentiment into frenzy.
The proceedings against Shafak were initiated after a complaint filed
by Kemal Kerincsiz, a nationalist lawyer notorious for relentlessly
pursuing before the courts intellectuals who dispute the official
line on the Armenian massacres.
A first investigation resulted in the complaint being rejected, but
this was overturned by a higher court.
"The Bastard of Istanbul," originally written in English, was
published in Turkish in March 2006 and quickly became a bestseller.
The novel moves between Turkey and the United States as it follows
four generations of women to tell the story of an Armenian family and
the descendants of a son left behind during the deportations, who
converts to Islam and lives as a Turk.
It was not immediately known when the trial will start.
Shafak, who was born in France and spent her teenage years abroad as
the daughter of a Turkish diplomat, writes both in English and
Turkish. Her books have been published in Britain and the United
States.
She is also an assistant professor at Arizona University's Near
Eastern Studies department and divides her time between Turkey and
the United States.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their people were slaughtered in
orchestrated killings between 1915 and 1917 and want the massacres to
be internationally recognized as genocide.
Turkey rejects the genocide label and argues that 300,000 Armenians
and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians took
up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with Russian
troops invading the crumbling Ottoman Empire.
July 28, 2006 Friday 3:36 PM GMT
Another Turkish writer to stand trial for book on Armenian massacres
ISTANBUL, July 28 2006
A prosecutor has sought up to three years in jail for prominent
Turkish author Elif Shafak for a novel dealing with the massacres of
Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, the Anatolia news agency reported
Friday.
Shafak, 35, was charged with "denigrating the Turkish national
identity" in lines uttered by fictional Armenian characters in her
novel, "The Bastard of Istanbul," or, in Turkish, "Baba ve Pic" (The
Father and the Bastard), Anatolia reported.
The case appears certain to draw angry reactions from the European
Union, which has warned Turkey that the prosecution of intellectuals
and journalists is casting a pall on its bid for membership.
The EU has urged Ankara to amend article 301 of its penal code, under
which Shafak is charged. The article has landed many intellectuals in
court.
They include Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who received a
six-month suspended sentence, and Turkey's best-known novelist, Orhan
Pamuk, who saw the case against him dropped.
Much to Turkey's ire, the massacres, which took place during World
War I, have been recognized as genocide by many countries and open
debate of the issue often sends nationalist sentiment into frenzy.
The proceedings against Shafak were initiated after a complaint filed
by Kemal Kerincsiz, a nationalist lawyer notorious for relentlessly
pursuing before the courts intellectuals who dispute the official
line on the Armenian massacres.
A first investigation resulted in the complaint being rejected, but
this was overturned by a higher court.
"The Bastard of Istanbul," originally written in English, was
published in Turkish in March 2006 and quickly became a bestseller.
The novel moves between Turkey and the United States as it follows
four generations of women to tell the story of an Armenian family and
the descendants of a son left behind during the deportations, who
converts to Islam and lives as a Turk.
It was not immediately known when the trial will start.
Shafak, who was born in France and spent her teenage years abroad as
the daughter of a Turkish diplomat, writes both in English and
Turkish. Her books have been published in Britain and the United
States.
She is also an assistant professor at Arizona University's Near
Eastern Studies department and divides her time between Turkey and
the United States.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their people were slaughtered in
orchestrated killings between 1915 and 1917 and want the massacres to
be internationally recognized as genocide.
Turkey rejects the genocide label and argues that 300,000 Armenians
and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians took
up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with Russian
troops invading the crumbling Ottoman Empire.