On October 25th, the European Court of Human Rights unanimously held that recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 would no longer be criminalized in Turkey. Many hoped that this would put an end to a long time policy of stunting scholarship and dialogue, including the persecution of Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and renown historian Taner Ackam. The court’s decision provided a measure of hope to those still mourning the loss of newspaper editor and human rights activist Hrant Dink, who was shot in front of the newspaper he founded in plain sight.
The celebration that followed the court’s decision was short lived, however. Four days later, on October 28th, publisher Ragip Zarakolu, recipient of the 2008 IPA Freedom to Publish Prize, and Turkey’s most prominent freedom of expression and minority rights activist, was arrested in Istanbul. Ragip Zarakolu’s Belge Publishing House, established in 1977, has published numerous books on the oppression of minorities in Turkey, including those on Jews, Kurds, as well Armenians. He has done this despite political persecution, and the threat of violence (Belge was fire bombed in 1995).
Mr. Zarakoglu, who is also a founding member of the Turkish Human Rights Association, will be held indefinitely for “investigation,” until Turkish authorities deem to charge him with an actual crime. That could take years. Is this what democracy looks like? I think not. Until Turkey understands the basic principles of democratization, writers, publishers and thinkers in that part of the world are not safe, unless of course they agree with the government’s version of the past, as well as the present. What could you or I do about it, you ask. Easy, sign this petition:
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