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Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Feb 15 2013
BOOKS > Meeting held to show solidarity to attacked Azerbaijani writer
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
by Vercihan ZiflioÄ?lu
The YeÅ?iller ve Sol Gelecek Partisi (Greens and Left Future Party)
held a solidarity meeting on Feb. 13 at Cezayir Restaurant located in
Istanbul's Galatasaray district for Azerbaijani writer Akram Aylisli.
Aylisli has been under fire from both the state and the public after
the release of his latest novel, `Stone Dreams,' which depicts a story
of Azerbaijani-Armenian friendship.
The meeting was attended by a number of intellectuals, authors, poets,
and students. Armenian writer Levon Cavakhyan, who himself suffered a
similar experience on the other side of the coin, sent a message of
solidarity to Aylisli. Cavakhyan was dismissed from the Writers' Union
of Armenia in 2008 after writing about Azerbaijani-Armenian
friendship.
Azerbaijani intellectuals living in Turkey are to appeal to the Human
Rights Association's Istanbul Office for Aylisli today, and they will
also ask the Azerbaijan Embassy to provide protection for the writer.
Supporting the writer
PEN International has also taken action for Aylisli. Prominent
publisher, author and human rights activist Ragıp Zarakolu called on
the international public to support Aylisli, adding that his call for
peace should be supported. `We must stop such incidents in Azerbaijan.
A voice should be raised from this geography, since we have provided
Azerbaijan with this strength,' he said.
Zarakolu also criticized the leftist groups in Turkey. `We have become
so West-centric that we have left the Azerbaijani groups alone with
their fates. It is time to act with solidarity,' he said.
Turkish Writers Union (TYS) chair Mustafa Köz said that the incidents
were against both reason and conscience. `Writers are the consciences
of their countries. We should protect these consciences, so we side
with Aylisli,' Köz said.
`I would hardly believe the incidents in my country,' Azerbaijani poet
Suna Araslı told Hürriyet Daily News before the meeting.
Araslı said a bounty of 10,000 euros had been declared for an ear of
Aylisli, his books had been buried in symbolic funeral ceremonies, and
a DNA test was demanded by the Azerbaijani Parliament to prove whether
he was actually Armenian.
Aylisli was the recipient of many national and international awards,
and was also declared `Azerbaijani National Writer' in 1987, but
President Ä°lham Aliyev stripped him of all his national honors on Feb.
7 in light of the latest book. Aylisli's son and wife have also been
fired from their jobs.
February/15/2013
From: Baghdasarian
Feb 15 2013
BOOKS > Meeting held to show solidarity to attacked Azerbaijani writer
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
by Vercihan ZiflioÄ?lu
The YeÅ?iller ve Sol Gelecek Partisi (Greens and Left Future Party)
held a solidarity meeting on Feb. 13 at Cezayir Restaurant located in
Istanbul's Galatasaray district for Azerbaijani writer Akram Aylisli.
Aylisli has been under fire from both the state and the public after
the release of his latest novel, `Stone Dreams,' which depicts a story
of Azerbaijani-Armenian friendship.
The meeting was attended by a number of intellectuals, authors, poets,
and students. Armenian writer Levon Cavakhyan, who himself suffered a
similar experience on the other side of the coin, sent a message of
solidarity to Aylisli. Cavakhyan was dismissed from the Writers' Union
of Armenia in 2008 after writing about Azerbaijani-Armenian
friendship.
Azerbaijani intellectuals living in Turkey are to appeal to the Human
Rights Association's Istanbul Office for Aylisli today, and they will
also ask the Azerbaijan Embassy to provide protection for the writer.
Supporting the writer
PEN International has also taken action for Aylisli. Prominent
publisher, author and human rights activist Ragıp Zarakolu called on
the international public to support Aylisli, adding that his call for
peace should be supported. `We must stop such incidents in Azerbaijan.
A voice should be raised from this geography, since we have provided
Azerbaijan with this strength,' he said.
Zarakolu also criticized the leftist groups in Turkey. `We have become
so West-centric that we have left the Azerbaijani groups alone with
their fates. It is time to act with solidarity,' he said.
Turkish Writers Union (TYS) chair Mustafa Köz said that the incidents
were against both reason and conscience. `Writers are the consciences
of their countries. We should protect these consciences, so we side
with Aylisli,' Köz said.
`I would hardly believe the incidents in my country,' Azerbaijani poet
Suna Araslı told Hürriyet Daily News before the meeting.
Araslı said a bounty of 10,000 euros had been declared for an ear of
Aylisli, his books had been buried in symbolic funeral ceremonies, and
a DNA test was demanded by the Azerbaijani Parliament to prove whether
he was actually Armenian.
Aylisli was the recipient of many national and international awards,
and was also declared `Azerbaijani National Writer' in 1987, but
President Ä°lham Aliyev stripped him of all his national honors on Feb.
7 in light of the latest book. Aylisli's son and wife have also been
fired from their jobs.
February/15/2013
From: Baghdasarian