Ragip Zarakolu
Turkey

Professional background:
The director and owner of Belge Publishing House, Ragip Zarakolu has been subject to a lifetime of harassment from the Turkish authorities. After graduating college in 1968, Zarakolu began writing for magazines such as Ant and Yeni Ufuklar, both of which focused on issues of social justice in Turkey. In 1971, a military government assumed power in Turkey and instituted a crackdown on writers it deemed subversive. Following a conviction and a three-year stay in prison, Zarakolu steadfastly refused to abandon his campaign for freedom of thought, striving for an "attitude of respect for different thoughts and cultures to become widespread in Turkey." Since his writings were repeatedly banned in Turkey for their criticism of the country's military regime, Zarakolu began to turn his attention to abuses of human rights by governments in South America and elsewhere.

In 1977, Zarakolu and his wife Ayse Nur founded the Belge Publishing House, which has been a focus for censorship since its inception. Its publications have not only drawn the government's ire. Zarakolu's office was firebombed by an extremist rightist group in 1995, forcing it to be housed in a cellar. Despite the death of his wife in 2002, Zarakolu has continued to publish writings critical of human rights violations around the world, especially in his native Turkey.

Case history:
Zarakolu's staunch belief in freedom of expression, his vocal campaign against book bannings, and his persistence in publishing works that violate Turkey's repressive censorship laws have resulted in a catalog of indictments dating back to the early 1970s.

His aforementioned 1971 conviction and three-year imprisonment stemmed from accusations by Turkey's new military government that Zarakolu was in cahoots with an international communist organization. In the 30 years since his release, Zarakolu has continued to defy Turkey's censorship laws, especially Article 312 of Turkey's Penal Code, which outlaws "making divisive propaganda via publication." The Belge Publishing House operated under a barrage of charges brought by Turkish authorities against Zarakolu and his wife. Over the years, such charges resulted in further imprisonment for the couple, the wholesale confiscation and destruction of books, and the imposition of heavy fines. Zarakolu's wife passed away in 2002.

Current status:
Ragip Zarakolu is currently being tried in three separate cases for publishing works deemed "insulting" to the Turkish government. Representatives from International PEN and the International Publishers' Association were present for his most recent trial in Istanbul on November 22, 2005. At this trial, Zarakolu faced charges under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code for the publication of two books by George Jerjian and Professor Dora Sakayan and one journal article that Zarakolu wrote and published in the journal Ozgur Politka on March 8, 2003.

George Jerjian's book, History Will Free Us All, which was considered "insulting" to the memory of Kemal Atatürk, suggested that close advisors to Atatürk were responsible for the mass deportation of Armenians in 1915. A new experts' committee was appointed at the November trial to assess the offensiveness of History Will Free Us All. In the case regarding Professor Dora Sakayan's book An Armenian Doctor in Turkey: Garabed Hatcherian: My Smyrna Ordeal of 1922, the prosecutor made his final statement, demanding a six-year prison sentence for Zarakolu for having "insulted the Army" and "Turkishness" by publishing this book. Both cases were adjourned to February 15, 2006 at which time they were postponed yet again, this time until April 19. A third case, for an article entitled "Sana Ne" ("Of No Interest") and its lambasting of what Zarakolu describes as Turkey's "aggressive and derogatory language used against the Kurdish region in Iraq," was adjourned to an unspecified date.

The news that the trials against publisher Ragip Zarakolu will drag on for at least another two months following a prior three-month delay has been met with increasing alarm that, far from improving, the state of free expression in Turkey is taking a steep downward curve.

To view the November 22 press release issued by International PEN and the International Publishers' Association, click here.

PEN considers the charges brought against Ragip Zarakolu to be in direct conflict with his right to free expression as guaranteed by Articles 19 and 22 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and is calling for the immediate and unconditional discontinuation of further legal processes against him.

Please write a polite letter on your personal or institutional letterhead requesting that charges against Ragip Zarakolu be dropped - or copy the one below - and mail to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Minister of Justice Cemil Çiçek (postage 84¢), and Dr. Osman Faruk Logoglu, the Turkish Ambassador to the United States (postage 39¢).

[Date]

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
TC Basbakanlik
Bakanlikir
Ankara, Turkey
Fax: 011 90 312 417 0476

Cemil Cicek
Minister of Justice
TC Adalet Bakanligi
Ankara, Turkey
Fax: 011 90 312 417 3954

Your Excellencies,

I am writing to express my serious concern for writer and publisher Ragip Zarakolu, who has been subject to decades of harassment by the Turkish authorities, facing numerous trials and prison sentences. I understand that Mr. Zarakolu is currently being tried under new Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. I also understand that at Mr. Zarakolu's February 15 hearing, his trial was adjourned to April 19, 2006. It is my understanding that this two-month adjournment of Mr. Zarakolu’s trial is preceded by a three-month delay between his November 22 and February 15 hearings. I strongly feel that further delay of Mr. Zarakolu's trial is just another means to harass and punish him for daring to speak out on sensitive issues. I respectfully ask that all charges against Mr. Zarakolu be dropped immediately. I am also concerned by the fact that legislation remains in place that not only penalizes certain types of free speech but also carries prison terms. I therefore urge your Excellencies to ensure that there be further review of Turkish legislation with the aim any remaining laws that can lead to the imprisonment of writers and journalists solely for the practice of their right to freedom of expression.

Sincerely,

[Your name and signature]

Cc:
H.E. Osman Faruk Logoglu
Embassy of Turkey to the United States
2525 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20008
fax: (202) 612-6744