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.

Current Status
PEN warmly welcomes the May 3, 2007 acquittal of Ragip Zarakolu in one of two cases against him. In that case, which began in March 2005, Zarakolu had been accused under Article 301 of the Penal Code for publishing a book by George Jerjian that was deemed "insulting" to the Turkish government. While Zarakolu’s case ended, the court claimed the translator of the book, Atilla Tuygan, was guilty of committing an “insult to the state” and “an insult to the memory of Atatürk.” Charges are expected to be leveled against Tuygan. While Zarakolu has been acquitted in one case, a second trial continues against him, also brought under Article 301, for the publication of a book by Dora Sakayan. That case, which had its first hearing in August 2005 has once again been postponed and rescheduled to occur on June 17, 2008, after Article 301 is due to be amended by the Turkish Parliament

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. It had also been accused of "ridiculing the state," a charge which could have led to a seven and a half year prison sentence for Zarakolu.

In the case regarding Professor Dora Sakayan's book, An Armenian Doctor in Turkey: Garabed Hatcherian: My Smyrna Ordeal of 1922, the prosecutor demanded a six-year prison sentence for Zarakolu for having "insulted the Army" and also "Turkishness" by publishing this book. Although Zarakolu invited an expert witness to speak in his defense at the trial, the court refused to hear him.

The news of the acquittal of Zarakolu in one case is met with relief in the international community and is viewed as a step forward in the state of free expression in Turkey. International PEN expects a similar outcome to the second trial against Zarakolu at its next hearing. Nonetheless, PEN remains concerned by the threat of judicial proceedings against translator Atilla Tuygan.

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.

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