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TURKISH AUTHOR SAYS TRIAL WILL TEST FICTION~AFS ROLE
Reuters, UK
Sept 12 2006
EU closely watching case against novelist in freedom of speech fight
Turkish author Elif Shafak goes on trial the week of Sept. 21 on
charges of "insulting Turkishness" in her novel that deals with the
waning years of the Ottoman Empire.
Updated: 10:53 a.m. ET Sept 12, 2006 ISTANBUL, Turkey - Leading Turkish
novelist Elif Shafak goes on trial next week in a case she views as a
milestone for freedom of speech in Turkey because for the first time
the words of fictional characters are being judged.
Shafak, a cosmopolitan feminist who writes in English and Turkish,
is accused of ~Aginsulting Turkishness~Ah in her new novel ~AgThe
Bastard of Istanbul,~Ah under controversial Article 301 of Turkey~Afs
revised penal code.
Several journalists and writers, including best-selling Orhan Pamuk,
have been tried under the article, in cases closely followed by
the European Union, which says Turkey must permit more freedom of
expression before it can join the bloc.
~AgBut to date (it) has never been used against fictional characters.
In that sense this is a new step and it~Afs quite surprising and
upsetting because if they keep doing this no one can write novels in
this country anymore, no one can make movies even. So this is a new
stage,~Ah she told Reuters by telephone.
Slaughter of Armenians at issue In the novel, her Armenian characters
make disparaging comments about Turks and refer to a genocide of
Armenians in the last years of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey denies allegations that 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a
systematic genocide. It says both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks
were killed in a partisan conflict that raged on Ottoman territory
during World War I.
Shafak~Afs case is also unusual because the 34-year-old is due to
give birth in the same week as the Sept. 21 start of the trial. Her
attempts to postpone the trial, which could bring a jail sentence of
up to three years, have failed.
For Shafak, the motives of the man behind the case, Kemal Kerincsiz
who leads a group of nationalist lawyers, are clear.
~AgI think the people they target ... it~Afs a very calculated thing.
They are just using us as tools to damage further the EU (entry)
process,~Ah she said.
Bad timing European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has urged
Ankara to amend 301, often used by nationalist prosecutors or lawyers
to launch cases against intellectuals over issues such as Kurdish
rights and the killings of Armenians under Ottoman rule.
The timing is also bad as it comes ahead of Brussels~Af Oct. 24 annual
report on Turkey~Afs progress in reforms to bring the largely Muslim
but secular country into line with EU laws. The European Commission
is expected to criticize Ankara~Afs political record, including on
freedom of expression, in the report.
Ankara has said it is ready to amend the law if court appeals end in
rulings that show freedom of expression is indeed being restricted.
But the government has not reacted to a top court decision in July
upholding a six-month suspended jail sentence for Armenian-Turkish
editor Hrant Dink.
~AgBehind closed doors I know some members of the government are
sincerely embarrassed by what~Afs going on,~Ah Shafak said.
~AgBut that~Afs not important. The important thing is they should
make public statements and they should take the initiative to abolish
Article 301.~Ah
Critics say the government fears that amending the law will give
nationalist parties ammunition ahead of elections in 2007.
Shafak, whose influences range from Russian literature to Sufism,
says she was surprised to go on trial for a book which has been a
best-seller in Turkish and will be published next year in English,
the language in which it was written.
But she sees these cases as a sign of progress.
~AgThe trials which are taking place right now, this uproar coming
from the nationalists, is happening not because nothing is changing
in Turkey but I think precisely because things are changing in the
right direction ... I see this nationalist reaction as a backlash to
a social transformation.~Ah
Reuters, UK
Sept 12 2006
EU closely watching case against novelist in freedom of speech fight
Turkish author Elif Shafak goes on trial the week of Sept. 21 on
charges of "insulting Turkishness" in her novel that deals with the
waning years of the Ottoman Empire.
Updated: 10:53 a.m. ET Sept 12, 2006 ISTANBUL, Turkey - Leading Turkish
novelist Elif Shafak goes on trial next week in a case she views as a
milestone for freedom of speech in Turkey because for the first time
the words of fictional characters are being judged.
Shafak, a cosmopolitan feminist who writes in English and Turkish,
is accused of ~Aginsulting Turkishness~Ah in her new novel ~AgThe
Bastard of Istanbul,~Ah under controversial Article 301 of Turkey~Afs
revised penal code.
Several journalists and writers, including best-selling Orhan Pamuk,
have been tried under the article, in cases closely followed by
the European Union, which says Turkey must permit more freedom of
expression before it can join the bloc.
~AgBut to date (it) has never been used against fictional characters.
In that sense this is a new step and it~Afs quite surprising and
upsetting because if they keep doing this no one can write novels in
this country anymore, no one can make movies even. So this is a new
stage,~Ah she told Reuters by telephone.
Slaughter of Armenians at issue In the novel, her Armenian characters
make disparaging comments about Turks and refer to a genocide of
Armenians in the last years of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey denies allegations that 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a
systematic genocide. It says both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks
were killed in a partisan conflict that raged on Ottoman territory
during World War I.
Shafak~Afs case is also unusual because the 34-year-old is due to
give birth in the same week as the Sept. 21 start of the trial. Her
attempts to postpone the trial, which could bring a jail sentence of
up to three years, have failed.
For Shafak, the motives of the man behind the case, Kemal Kerincsiz
who leads a group of nationalist lawyers, are clear.
~AgI think the people they target ... it~Afs a very calculated thing.
They are just using us as tools to damage further the EU (entry)
process,~Ah she said.
Bad timing European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has urged
Ankara to amend 301, often used by nationalist prosecutors or lawyers
to launch cases against intellectuals over issues such as Kurdish
rights and the killings of Armenians under Ottoman rule.
The timing is also bad as it comes ahead of Brussels~Af Oct. 24 annual
report on Turkey~Afs progress in reforms to bring the largely Muslim
but secular country into line with EU laws. The European Commission
is expected to criticize Ankara~Afs political record, including on
freedom of expression, in the report.
Ankara has said it is ready to amend the law if court appeals end in
rulings that show freedom of expression is indeed being restricted.
But the government has not reacted to a top court decision in July
upholding a six-month suspended jail sentence for Armenian-Turkish
editor Hrant Dink.
~AgBehind closed doors I know some members of the government are
sincerely embarrassed by what~Afs going on,~Ah Shafak said.
~AgBut that~Afs not important. The important thing is they should
make public statements and they should take the initiative to abolish
Article 301.~Ah
Critics say the government fears that amending the law will give
nationalist parties ammunition ahead of elections in 2007.
Shafak, whose influences range from Russian literature to Sufism,
says she was surprised to go on trial for a book which has been a
best-seller in Turkish and will be published next year in English,
the language in which it was written.
But she sees these cases as a sign of progress.
~AgThe trials which are taking place right now, this uproar coming
from the nationalists, is happening not because nothing is changing
in Turkey but I think precisely because things are changing in the
right direction ... I see this nationalist reaction as a backlash to
a social transformation.~Ah