2010: Turkey: Ragip Zarakolu, Mehmet Güler
Mr Sadullah Ergin
Minister of Justice
06669 Kizilay
Ankara
Turkey
6 October 2010
Your Excellency,
Trial of Publisher Ragip Zarakolu and Writer, Mehmet Güler, first Hearing on 30 September
Ragip Zarakolu, publisher and free expression activist is on trial again for publishing another book by author Mehmet Güler. Both Zarakolu and Güler have been charged using anti-terror legislation, following the publication of Güler’s The KCK File/The Global State and Kurds Without a State. In June 2010, Zarakolu was acquitted on charges of spreading propaganda by publishing another book by Güler, More Difficult Decisions Than Death, for which the author received a 15 month sentence. Once again, the two men are charged with publishing statements seen to support the banned Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK). The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN is disappointed to learn that Ragip Zarakolu is again being tried in contravention of international standards safeguarding the right to freedom of expression, and that Mehmet Güler faces further charges.
Yours sincerely
Annaguli Yildam,
Member of Norwegian PEN, WiPC
