(WiPC/IFEX) – International PEN is concerned that writers continue to be tried in direct denial of their right to freedom of expression despite recent changes to Turkish laws. Two of Turkey’s most noted dissident writers, Fikret Baskaya and Ragip Zarakolu, will be appearing in separate courts on 2 March 2005. International PEN will be sending […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – International PEN is concerned that writers continue to be tried in direct denial of their right to freedom of expression despite recent changes to Turkish laws. Two of Turkey’s most noted dissident writers, Fikret Baskaya and Ragip Zarakolu, will be appearing in separate courts on 2 March 2005. International PEN will be sending observers to these trials.
The trials of Turkish writer and academic Baskaya and publisher Zarakolu will continue on 2 March in Ankara and Istanbul, respectively. Baskaya is charged with “insult to the state, state institutions and the military” under Article 159/1 of the Turkish Penal Code. If convicted he faces a maximum jail sentence of three years. Zarakolu is charged with “incitement to racial hatred” under Article 312 of the Penal Code for publishing a book critical of Turkish policy on Kurdish issues. If convicted he faces a jail sentence of up to two years.
Baskaya is an eminent academic and writer, and an honorary member of English and Swiss-German PEN. The charges against him relate to two articles written by Baskaya and published as part of a collection entitled, “Articles against the Tide”. The articles were previously published in the early 1990s; one suggested that the Turkish government had approved an arson attack in the town of Sivas in which 38 people died, the other was a critique of the economic policy of Turkey’s 1980 military regime.
This is not the first time that Baskaya has faced court action brought by the Turkish authorities. From March 1994 to July 1995, he was imprisoned for his book, “The Bankruptcy of the Paradigm”, under Article 8 of the Turkish Anti-Terror Law. In 2001, he was sentenced to 16 months in prison for an article deemed “separatist propaganda” (see IFEX alerts of 24 July, 7 June, 29 March and 6 February 2002, 27 August and 11 June 2001).
Zarakolu, owner and director of Belge Publishing House, is facing trial for an article he published in “Ozgur Politka” in March 2003. The article, entitled “Sana Ne” (“Of No Interest”), criticised Turkey’s policy towards the Kurds.
Zarakolu, an honorary member of several PEN Centres, has faced a string of indictments dating back to the early 1970s under Turkey’s censorship laws. The indictments have resulted in numerous fines and jail terms for both Zarakolu and his late wife Ayse Nur (see IFEX alerts of 1 March 2002, 7 and 4 July 1997). In 1995, the Belge Publishing House offices were firebombed by an extremist right wing group.
