Necmiye Alpay Awarded Honorary Membership by Swiss German PEN

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The Swiss German Pen Center (DSZP) has awarded honorary membership to linguist, writer and translator Necmiye Alpay, who has been arrested as of August 31 on charge of "being a member of an [illegal] organization".

The DSZP underlining the harsh conditions that writers and journalists have been enduring in Turkey, used the following words on its statement:

"Defenders of right to expression are in prison"

"The DSZP has been regularly inviting readers to debates and readings. The Center has acted in concert with the Pen International, which saw the condition of writers on site in 2013 and has protested anti-terror law.

"Turkish government has carried out mass arrests and discharged a great number of people with the purpose of suppressing the recent [July 15] coup attempt.

"A large number of writers and journalists, who have nothing to do with the coup attempt, are now in prison waiting for the legal process to begin. The only reason for them to be in prison is that they defend their right to expression".

The statement concluded that the Center awarded Necmiye Alpay honorary membership to act in solidarity with her.

About Necmiye Alpay

Necmiye Alpay is a linguist and writer, born in 1946. She graduated from Ankara University Faculty for Political Science in 1969. She did her doctorate in economics at Paris-Nanterre University.

While she was a lecturer at Ankara University Faculty for Political Science, she was arrested by the September 12 Military Junta and stayed in Mamak Prison for three years.

After getting out of prison, she started working as a translator.

She has has written columns and articles in many newspapers and journals such as Radikal daily, translated certain works into Turkish and also published her own books. (EKN/TK)