Turkish Writers Speak Out

Posted on October 9, 2006

Turkish writers have plenty to say about the recent rash of writer prosecutions in their country. The New York Times takes a look at the issue and finds that some writers think that the controversy will backfire on the government and end up being good for writers.

The latest person to be accused of "insulting Turkishness" is Hrant Dink, the editor of an Armenian-language newspaper, Agos, says that the charges against him are false but actually constitute good news.

"It is something good for Turkey," said Mr. Dink, though he faces the prospect of three years in jail. "It is good for the dynamism. There is a strong movement from inside, and I can say for the first time we are seeing a real democratic movement."
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[P]eople like Mr. Dink and Ms. [Elif] Shafak argue that the legal challenges may be backfiring, under the glare not only of Europe but also among Turks themselves, so that in their view, a law used to stifle debate may be encouraging it.
Judges have not hesitated to throw out cases they deem without merit. While there have been convictions under Article 301, no one has actually gone to jail. And the very government that drafted the law now says it needs to be changed, though it is not clear exactly how or when.
During Ms. Shafak�s case, she received phone calls from two of the most powerful people in Turkey: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who himself had been jailed briefly years ago under the old version of the law, and his foreign minister, Abdullah Gul. Her interpretation is that nationalist groups are filing a growing number of cases under Article 301 "not because nothing has been changing here in Turkey but because things are changing."

We sincerely hope that Mr. Dink and Ms. Shafak are right, but we have our doubts. If we were facing jail time for our writing or editing, it would be hard to see such a situation as having any positive aspects whatsoever. But, then again, we haven't had our coffee yet today.