Impending imprisonment of writer

(WiPC/IFEX) – WiPC is deeply disturbed by the impending imprisonment of Muzaffer Ilhan Erdost, a prominent writer and publisher. Erdost has been sentenced to a year in prison and a fine of 100 million lira (US$260 approx.) on charges relating to his book “Three Sivas”. His sentence has been ratified and he may have to […]

(WiPC/IFEX) – WiPC is deeply disturbed by the impending imprisonment of
Muzaffer Ilhan Erdost, a prominent writer and publisher. Erdost has been
sentenced to a year in prison and a fine of 100 million lira (US$260
approx.) on charges relating to his book “Three Sivas”. His sentence has
been ratified and he may have to go to jail at any time.

Erdost, a 66-year-old writer, journalist and publisher from central
Anatolia, was first imprisoned between 1971 and 1974 for five books that he
published as director of the Sol Publishing House. Just after the military
coup of 12 September 1980, he was again arrested with his brother Ilhan
Erdost. On 7 November 1980, Erdost witnessed his brother being beaten to
death by police while in custody. (His harrowing account of the murder
appears in the PEN anthology “This Prison Where I Live”). He took his
brother’s name, Ilhan, as his middle name in memory of this event.

He is the author of articles, books, poems, essays, and stories and an
active member of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey. He is also a
founding member of the Nazim Hikmet Foundation, which celebrates the legacy
of Nazim Hikmet, one of Turkey’s most illustrious twentieth century poets.
After his brother’s death, he took over Onur Publishing House, founded by
Ilhan in 1974.

His current conviction stems from his book “Uc Sivas” (“Three Sivas”), an
account of three occasions in the town of Sivas when civilians have been
massacred. “In my book,” Erdost explains, “I tried to explain the facts
behind the three events in Sivas, and I concluded that the 2 July 1993
massacre (in which thirty-five people were killed in the Madimak Hotel
conflagration set by fanatical religious groups) was a planned operation.”
His lawyers stressed in court that the title and back cover, far from having
the separatist message ascribed to it by the judges, is a plea against the
destruction of Turkey. Nevertheless, in March 1997, the court found that he
had transgressed Article 8.1 of the Anti-Terror Law by “disseminating
separatist propaganda.” Two years later, the Supreme Court upheld his
one-year prison term and fine. At this point the Chief Prosecutor intervened
by submitting the case to the General Penal Board of the Supreme Court;
however, this body also upheld the sentence on 20 April 1999.

Erdost’s family reports that the date on which Erdost is to enter jail and
his place of confinement have yet to be determined.

The Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) has protested the sentence as
follows: “Erdost, a representative of the enlightenment tradition, a man of
culture and art who has contributed to Turkey’s cultural life and
intellectual history since the 1960s . . . is again ‘guilty’ of thinking.
The political and juridical structure of Turkey does not allow for the free
expression of one’s thoughts, despite this being a sine qua non of a
democratic society, and this fact has now opened again the prison gates for
Erdost. As a contributor to IHD’s construction and chairman of our Ankara
branch, as well as by his independent studies on human rights, Erdost has
proved to be a defender of human rights. The barriers to the right to free
expression must be abolished and all our intellectuals, artists, and
politicians who are in prison for their thoughts must be freed.”

Recommended Action

His Excellency

President Suleyman Demirel

Office of the President

Cumhurbaskanligi

06100 Ankara

Turkey

+ 90 312 468 5026

Copies of your appeals and letters expressing solidarity can be sent to

Muzaffer Ilhan Erdost’s email address: ilhankit@prizma.net.tr