On the occasion of the upcoming Turkish National Day, October 29, two hundred and sixty-seven writers, members of PEN from thirteen countries – among them Margaret Atwood, A.S. Byatt, Ivan Klima, Harold Pinter, Josef Skvorecky and Susan Sontag, have signed an appeal addressed to the Turkish Prime Minister to release Esber Yagmurdereli, the noted human […]
On the occasion of the upcoming Turkish National Day, October 29, two hundred and sixty-seven writers, members of PEN from thirteen countries – among them Margaret Atwood, A.S. Byatt, Ivan Klima, Harold Pinter, Josef Skvorecky and Susan Sontag, have signed an appeal addressed to the Turkish Prime Minister to release Esber Yagmurdereli, the noted human rights lawyer and playwright. Vaclav Havel, President of the Czech Republic and member of Czech PEN, added his voice to the appeal in a meeting with the Turkish President in Istanbul on October 10.
Yagmurdereli, aged 55 and blind since the age of ten, has been served with a prison term that will not see him released until at least 2015. His crime? To have spoken out against human rights abuses in Turkey, most notably in the south-east of the country.
Originally arrested in 1979 and given a life sentence, he was freed under an amnesty in 1991 – on condition that he not become involved in political activities. Yet, only months later, Yagmurdereli stood on a platform at a human rights meeting to denounce human rights abuses. Seven years later, in 1998, he was finally sentenced to ten months in prison. Because he had broken the conditions of his release in 1991, he was ordered to serve 17 years of his original sentence – a sentence that will not expire until around 2015.
A noted playwright as well a human rights lawyer, Yagmurdereli is only one of hundreds of writers and journalists who have been imprisoned or who have faced courts throughout the 1990’s in Turkey, a country which is seeking entry to the European Union. His case illustrates Turkey’s continuing reluctance to grant its citizens their complete freedom to write and speak out their views without fear of reprisal. International PEN, the world association of writers, is demanding that the Turkish authorities free Esber Yagmurdereli and bring to a halt attacks upon those in Turkey who dare to speak out.
Contacts: Sara Whyatt, Program Director, Writers in Prison Committee, International PEN, London – intpen@gn.apc.org, tel: + 44 20 7253 3226; Isobel Harry, Executive Director – International, PEN Canada, Toronto, iharry@pencanada.ca tel: 416 703 8448
The text of the appeal:
We, the undersigned members of International PEN, the world writers’ association, are writing this appeal on behalf of our colleague, the imprisoned Turkish playwright and human rights lawyer, Esber Yagmurdereli.
First arrested in 1978 and sentenced to death (later commuted to a life sentence), he was conditionally released in August 1991. However within a few months he was on a public platform protesting the treatment of Kurdish prisoners, and continued abuses by Turkish forces in the region. This led to a series of court hearings which in October 1997 resulted in his return to prison to serve the remainder of his life sentence, plus ten months for the second “offense,” calculated at approximately seventeen years.
Mr. Yagmurdereli enjoyed a brief respite from prison in November 1997 when he was temporarily released on health grounds. In June 1998 he was returned to prison, where he now remains.
Esber Yagmurdereli, blind since age ten, has continued his campaign to highlight the plight of Kurds and other human rights violations in Turkey throughout his trial and imprisonment, despite the risk to himself, earning him respect and admiration both within Turkey and abroad. As Mr. Yagmurdereli’s imprisonment lengthens, outrage among the world-wide human rights and artistic community grows.
On September 29th, Mr. Yagmurdereli was awarded the Ludovic Trarieux Award, given by France’s Bordeaux Bar Association, to mark his contribution as a lawyer dedicated to the promotion of human rights. (Nelson Mandela was the first recipient of the award).
October 29th is Turkish National Day. Should there be an amnesty, we strongly urge the Turkish government to demonstrate its resolve to uphold international standards of human rights and the principles of free expression by releasing Esber Yagmurdereli from prison, immediately and unconditionally.
List of signatories
Homero Aridjis, President, International PEN
Terry Carlbom, International Secretary
Eugene Schoulgin, Chair, PEN Writers in Prison Committee
Vice Presidents:
Francis King, CBE, English PEN
Michael Scammel, American PEN
Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, American PEN
Ronald Harwood CBE, English PEN
Executive Committee:
Gloria Guardia de Alfaro, Colombian PEN
Niels Barfoed, Danish PEN
Fawzia Assaad, Suisse Romand PEN/Egyptian PEN
Marian Botsford Fraser, PEN Canada
Thomas von Vegesack, Swedish PEN
Carles Torner, Catalan PEN
CATALAN PEN: Jordi Sarsanedas, President, Isidor Cònsul, Rosa Igartua, Xavier Renau, Sam Abrams, Jaume Subirana, Lluïsa Julià, Araceli Bruch
PEN CANADA: Sandra Martin, President, Bert Archer, Margaret Atwood, Eugene Benson, Michelle Berry, Patricia Best, Gloria Bishop, June Callwood, Anne Collins, Louise Dennys, Moira Farr, Angela Ferrante, Charlie Foran, John Fraser, Graeme Gibson, Alison Gordon, Katherine Govier, Ron Graham, John Lorinc, Rohinton Mistry, Philip Resnick, Nino Ricci, David P. Silcox, Amela Simic, Evan Solomon, Clayton Ruby, Guy Vanderhaeghe
PEN USA WEST (Los Angeles): Jonathan Kirsch, President, Betsy Amster, Elaine Attias, Sandra Cisneros, Robert Cohen, K.C. Cole, Michael Datcher, Michael Elias, Edmonde
Haddad, Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, Eloise Klein Healy, Donna Hilbert, Eric Lax, Aimee Liu, Jack Miles, Gerald Nicosia, Richard North Patterson, Kit Rachlis, Richard Reeves, B.J. Robbins, Ute Margaret Saine, Carolyn See, Lisa See, Sidney Sheldon, Mona Simpson, Dolores Sloan, April Smith, Janet Sternburg, Tom Teicholz, Jervey Tervalon, Scott Turow, David L. Ulin, Linda Venis, Charlotte T. Whaley, Jamie Wolf
SCOTTISH PEN: Simon Berry, President, Robin Lloyd-Jones, Jane Rawlinson, Professor Edwin Morgan OBE, Professor Douglas Dunn, A.L. Kennedy, Dorothy Dunnett OBE
SLOVAK PEN: Vaclav Suplata, Igor Hochel, Tomas Janovic, Klara Jarunkova, Vladimir Haratik, Karol Wlachovsky, Peter Jaros, Mila Haugova, Michal Dzurik, Maros Bancej, Jan Boor, Ivan Mojik
PEN AMERICAN CENTER (New York): Frances FitzGerald, President, Paul Auster, Cynthia Ozick, Grace Paley, Susan Sontag, Edward Albee, Paul Auster, Anthony Appiah
CZECH PEN: Jiri Stransky, President, Alexandra Berkova, Jana Cervenkova, Daniela Fischerova, Bohuslava Grogerova, Josef Hirsal, Milan Jugmann, Eva Kanturkova, Ivan Klima, Eda Kriseova, Ludvik Kundera, Arnost Lustig, Zdenek Rotrekl, Josef Skvorecky, Josef Topol, Jan Trefulka, Ivan Binar, Tereza Brdeckova, Zdena Bratrsovska, Vaclav Danek, Jiri Dedecek, Ludmila Duskova, Karla Erbova,Lubomir Feldek, Viola Fischerova-Jedlickova, Karel Fron, Helena Haskovcova, Josef Henke, Frantisek Hrdlicka, Josef Hruby, Miroslav Hule, Miroslav Huptych, Milena Hubschmannova, Kveta Hyrslova, Zdenek Janik, Pavel Janousek, Josef Jarab, Antonin Jelinek, Vladimir Justl, Zeno Kapral, Vladimir Karfik, Dusan Karpatsky, Alexandr Kliment, Jaroslav Kovanda, Petr Kovarik, Oldrich Kral, Vladimir Krivanek, Helena Kudlackova, Libuse Ludvikova, Lubimir Machala, Jaroslav Marek-Vejvoda, Marcella Marboe-Hrabincova, Rudolf Matys, Antonin Mestan, Dana Mojzisova, Alena Moravkova, Lenka Prochazkova, Zdenka Psutkova, Roman Raz, Petr Sacher, Zdenek Smid, Rudolf Strobinger, Jaroslav Veis, Pavel Verner, Jan Vodnansky, Alena Wagnerova, Jiri Zacek, Hana Zantovska
ENGLISH PEN: Lady Rachel Billington, President, Lisa Appignanesi, His Hon. Anthony Babington, Sybille Bedford OBE, Penelope Bennett, Terence Blacker, Dame AS Byatt CBE, Alain de Botton, William Dalrymple, Jenny Diski, Margaret Drabble CBE, Moris Farhi, Felipe Fernandez Armesto, Lady Antonia Fraser CBE, Harris Freedman, Lee Hall, Justine Hardy, Ben Hooberman, Liz Jensen, Judith Kazantzis, Sheri Laizer, Sarah Lawson, Hermione Lee, David Lodge, Ian McEwan, Richard McKane, Jane Mays, Diane W. Middlebrook, Deborah Moggach, Blake Morrison, Harold Pinter CBE Josephine Pullein-Thompson MBE, Jasper Ridley, Anne Sebba, Carole Seymour Jones, Miranda Seymour, Joan Smith, Frances Spalding, Claire Tomalin Marina Warner, Fay Weldon, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Arnold Wesker, Rod Wooden
NORWEGIAN PEN: Kjell Olaf Jensen, President, Anders Heger, Aase Gjerdrum, Khalid Salimi, Kirsti Blom, Øivind Arneberg, Kari Vogt, Håkon Harket; John Stanghelle, President, Norwegian Non-fiction Writers and Translators Association, Karsten Alnæs, President, Norwegian Authors Association
SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE PEN: Sareda Milosz, President, Lucina Kathmann, Tony Cohan, W.D. Snodgrass
SWEDISH PEN: Monica Nagler, President, Elisabeth Zila-Olin, Håkan Josephson, Christian Reimers, Marina Stagh, Kristina Hultman, Maria Modigh, Torbjörn Lodén, Lars Hjalmarsson,
Peter Mosskin, Ljiljana Dugran, Ozan Sunar
PEN QUEBECOIS: Emile Martel, president of Québécois centre, Noël Audet, Pierre Bédard, Pierre de Bellefeuille, Gaston Bellemare, Nicole Brossard, Bernard Chevrier, Paule Delorme, Jeanne Demers, Marie Émond, Madeleine Gagnon, Louise Gareau-Desbois, Roger Paul Gilbert, Alexis Klimov, Jean-Marc Léger, Lynda Leith, Peter MacFarlane, Émile Ollivier, HélènePelletier-Baillargeon, Pierre Pelletier, Anne-Claire Poirier.
DANISH PEN: Klaus Rothstein (writer, President Danish PEN), Niels Barfoed (writer, member International PEN’s Executive Committee, former President Danish PEN), Joergen Knudsen (writer, former President Danish PEN, member of the board Danish PEN), Marianne Oestergaard (journalist (Vicepresident Danish PEN), Jens Lohmann (writer & journalist, chair Writers in Prison Committee Danish PEN), Astrid Saalbach (playwright, member of the board, Danish PEN), Caecilie Lassen (writer, membeer of the board Danish PEN), Per Kofod (publisher, member of the board Danish PEN), Preben Vilhjelm (writer, former MP), Anne Marie Ejrnaes (writer), Inge Eriksen (writer)
