Prosecutor Reckons Fictional Protagonists to be "Dangerous"

After a change of prosecutors at the Istanbul 10^th High Criminal Court, the behaviour of the literary characters of the novel "More difficult decisions than death" written by N. Mehment Güler and published by Ragıp Zarakolu is seen as "disruptive".

In the previous hearing on 19 November, prosecutor Mustafa Çavuşolğlu demanded the acquittal of Zarakolu and Güler based on his opinion that "no elements of crime occurred". Nonetheless, in the latest hearing on 25 March prosecutor in charge Savaş Kırbaş reckoned the utterances of the protagonists to be dangerous and requested prison sentence for writer Güler under charges of "spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization".

Both un-detained defendants are facing prison sentences of up to 7.6 years based on article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMY) because of the protagonists called "Sıti", "Sabri" and "Şiyar".

File will not be sent to an expert review

Prosecutor Kırbaş put forward that the book was written as a novel over all and depicts the co-operation between members of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in rural areas, their solidarity and actions in an epic style by showing the organizations activities in rural areas.

The defendants' lawyer Özcan Kılıç requested to have the literary quality of the work assessed by an expert but the court dismissed Kılıç's request. A final decision of the case is expected for the coming hearing scheduled for 10 June.

"Different atmosphere at court"

Zarakolu compared the different stages of the trial with the Turkish domestic climate: "When the case was opened, there was a cold strong wind blowing in the court room and also in the country. When our acquittal was demanded in November, the atmosphere was warm and soft. Today though a harsh wind is blowing again. I think the atmosphere of the trial reflects the climate of the country".

Güler had emphasized in the previous hearing that even though there are lots of troubles in Turkey, one has to confront reality. "Turkey has to deal with a conflict that has lasted for 30 years and cost many lives.  I decided to deal with the problems in literature because I think this is the best way to fix the social trauma. You cannot prepare an indictment by plucking bits and pieces of a literary work, choosing what serves your purpose and breaking it into pieces" Güler indicated.

Book cover seen as another offence

The following paragraph on the back of the book cover is furthermore seen as subject to criminal offence: "The shadows of 12 September [military coup in 1980] are a heavy burden. But elections were held, civil life was re-established and the society started to come to a rest even though a shadow remains. Even more important, the war started on 15 August began to disperse the fear of that nightmare which followed people like a shadow. It began to scratch the undisputable and untouchable ruling image of the junta of 12 September". (EÖ/VK)