HyeOctane

Taking Grassroots Activism to the Next Level

Turkey’s Truth Killing

April 22nd, 2008 by

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Since 2005, Ragip Zarakolu has been facing an unending string of trials under the notorious Article 301 of Turkey’s penal code.

His most recent indictment is for publishing George Jerjian’s The Truth Will Set Us Free: Armenians and Turks Reconciled, a book that recounts the story of the author’s grandmother during the Armenian Genocide.  He faces a three-year jail sentence for this offense.

On April 9, a criminal court in Istanbul prologned Mr. Zarakolu’s persecution once agian by postponing his hearing until June 17, by which time Turkey is expected to apply some cosmetic reforms to Article 301.

Nevertheless, Zarakolu feels he will likely end up in jail despite the supposed reforms.  Cengiz Aktar, an EU expert at Bahcesehir University in Istanbul, shares this view, pointing out that there are at least 20 other articles in Turkey’s penal code which have “the same mentality of killing freedom of speech.”

And it is exactly this killing of free speech that has many European officials protesting against Turkey’s practices and blocking their accession into the EU.  It is also this killing of freedom of speech that led to the death of Hrant Dink, the exile of Orhan Pamuk, and the trial of over 1,700 people under Article 301.

We see that this government that claims it has nothing to hide and calls for a historical commission with Armenia is the same government spending night and day lobybing officials abroad, jailing writers at home, and preventing the publishing of books.

Ninety-three years after 1915, Turkey is more adamant than ever in its outrageous effort to bury the truth alongside the 1.5 million bodies it is responsible for exterminating. Ankara is obviously afraid of this truth and cannot dare to face its past.

Yet, despite being dragged to court and even having his publishing house firebombed, a lonely few like Zarakolu continue to call internally for Turkey to change its ways.  “We try to force our society to face its history,” says Zarakolu.  “Without this hardship we can’t change society. Somebody must pay the bill.”

The least we can do is stand up for the truth ourselves and demand a rightful acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide.

   

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 3:01 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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