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"THIS MAN does not belong to prison, he deserves a Nobel Prize.
We demand that Rag
ıp Zarakolu, the recipient of IPA’s Freedom to Publish Prize be released immediately.”
(Bjørn Smith-Simonsen, Chair of IPA’s Freedom to Publish Committee (FTPC), 1 November 2011)
Biography
Ragιp Zarakolu (born 1948) grew up among Greeks and Armenians on the Big Princes’ Island Prince (Prinkipo; Turkish Büyükada), where his father was a sub-prefect. The diversity of cultures and literatures are familiar and dear to him from childhood.
In 1968 he started to write for the journals "The Oath" and "New Horizons".
Since the age of 31 years R. Zarakolu was prosecuted because of his commitment for freedom of expression and freedom of conscience: In 1971, during the military coup d’état of a junta, he was prosecuted for his "illicit relations with Amnesty International"! He spent five months in prison, was allowed to fall to the indictment. In 1972 he was again sentenced to two years in prison because he had written an article about Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnam War. Only in 1974 he was released as part of a general amnesty.
Zarakolu was not to be intimidated and continued his fight for the freedom of thought and "the spread of a respectful attitude towards the diversity of opinion and culture in Turkey".
Since the age of 31 years R. Zarakolu was prosecuted because of his commitment for freedom of expression and freedom of conscience: In 1971, during the military coup d’état of a junta, he was prosecuted for his "illicit relations with Amnesty International"! He spent five months in prison, was allowed to fall to the indictment. In 1972 he was again sentenced to two years in prison because he had written an article about Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnam War. Only in 1974 he was released as part of a general amnesty.
Zarakolu was not to be intimidated and continued his fight for the freedom of thought and "the spread of a respectful attitude towards the diversity of opinion and culture in Turkey".
In 1977 he and his wife Ayşenur founded in Istanbul the "Belge" ("document" -) publishing house, which from its beginnings became the victims of the Turkish censorship. The publishers received heavy fines and imprisonment, their book holdings were confiscated and destroyed. In the same year Ragιp Zarakolu belonged to the founders of the newspaper "Democrat" and directed its foreign desk. After the military coup of 12 September 1980 "Democrat" was banned and Ragιp Zarakolu briefly detained in 1982 for his editorial work. Until 1991 he remained exiled from his homeland.
Courageous taboo-breaker
Until the coup of 12 September 1980 the book release of "Belge" focused mainly on academic and theoretical literature. "Belge" then began to publish a series of 35 books of political prisoners: anthologies of poems, short stories and novels. The list of publications includes more than ten translations of Greek literature, a dozen books about the genocide against the Armenians and Assyrians, and five books about the Jews in Turkey. Numerous books also refer to the Kurds in Turkey, for R. Zarakolu championed their rights as well as a non-violent settlement of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict.
With such a publishing profile, R. Zarakolu proved a fearless taboo-breaker: the first Turkish publisher printed Turkish translations of foreign literature on the genocide against the Armenians (including George Jerjian’s "The Truth Will Set Us Free: Armenians and Turks reconciled" and the diary the Armenian physician and eyewitness Garabed Hatcherian, "My Smyrna Ordeal in 1922"), Assyrians and Arameans (David Gaunt: Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I), the history and culture of Greece.
In 1986, R. Zarakolu was one of the 98 founders of the Turkish section of the League for Human Rights (IHD).
For his courage to defend the freedom of publishing the International Publishers Association honored him in 2008 with the Freedom to Publish Prize. On 7 November 2011 he was nominated as a defender of human rights for the prestigious Martin Ennals Award. He is chairman of the Turkish committee for arrested writers of the International PEN Club.
In 1995, members of a state affiliated contra-guerilla bombed the Belge publishing house. Since the early death of his wife (2002) R. Zarakolu was repeatedly arrested and had to endure legal prosecutions.
Re-arrested
On the evening of 28 October 2011 Ragιp Zarakolu was arrested on the way home and is currently in a high security prison at Kocaeli (Izmit). For the custody arrangement the court used the ‘evidence’ of six books seized during a dawn raid, including three unpublished manuscripts on the genocide against the Armenians and other Christian ethnicities in the Ottoman Empire.
Zarakolu’s recent detention and arrest occurred during the "Union of Kurdistan communities" (KCK) arrests. It is estimated that since 2009 up to 5,000 people have been arrested in the context of the KCK wave of arrests. They are usually accused of belonging to Kurdish or pro-Kurdish organizations, including the legal pro-Kurdish party BDP, at whose Academy R. Zarakolu’s son Deniz Zarakolu was lecturing. Deniz Zarakolu was repeatedly subjected to legal prosecution, among others for a speech he gave in 2002 at the grave of his mother. Deniz Zarakolu had already been arrested in early October 2011 and has since been held in the high security prison of Edirne.
Under Turkey’s Anti-Terrorism Act detainees must wait at least a year for trial. Of particular concern is the lack of medical care in this period. Deniz Zarakolu is asthmatic, and his father Ragιp is not in good health.
Among the prominent victims of the recent wave of arrests is also the political scientist Prof. Dr. Büsra Ersanl
ı. The Turkish Minister for European Affairs Egemen Bagis justifies the mass arrests of intellectuals in October 2011 with the words: "Each of them for what he has written, and all for their terrorist dossier!"
It is obvious that the arrests are primarily intended to intimidate the intelligenciya of Turkey and to isolate the Kurds.
Awards
1999: Turkish-Greek Peace and Friendship Award
2003: Award for Freedom of Thought (PEN Netherlands)
2004: Prize for Freedom of Opinion (Norwegian Writers' Union)
2007: Prize for Freedom of Opinion and Thought (Turkish Writers' Union)
2008: Freedom to Publish Prize (International Publishers Association - IPA)
2011: Nomination for the Martin Ennals Award
2011: JAILED IN KOCAELI HIGH SECURITY PRISON
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