Statement by Ragıp Zarakolu, Criminal Complaint by Communications Director Altun

Click to read the article in Turkish

In a statement released by the Presidential Communications Directorate, it has been announced that "a criminal complaint has been filed by Communications Director Fahrettin Altun against Ragıp Zarakolu and Arti Media (Artı TV and Artı Gerçek) due to the article entitled 'There is no escape from ill fortune', which contains a threat of coup and capital punishment by putting the pictures of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and late Prime Minister Adnan Menderes side by side."

The petition of complaint submitted to the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office by Altun's attorney Sezgin Tunç has requested that a public case be brought against Zarakolu and Arti Media on the ground that they publicly committed an offense against the Constitutional order of the Republic of Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

'I have struggled against coups all through my life'

Accused of "being pro-coup" by the government circles due to his article, Ragıp Zarakolu has responded to the allegations in a written statement.

Noting that the content of the article is against coups, rather than being pro-coup as alleged, Zarakolu has said, "It is simply inexplicable that the article is misinterpreted to such an extent. It is understood that the Presidential spokespersons did not read the article adequately."

Underlining that everyone will need human rights and justice one day, Zarakolu has indicated that "he has struggled against coups and putschist tendencies all through his lifetime."

Within this context, he has also referred to the early 1960s, when the then Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and ministers Hasan Polatkan and Fatin Rüştü Zorlu were executed following the coup on May 27, 1960:

"I spent the year 1960-61 in Israel Houses known as MP Houses. It was the first time that I encountered the families of political prisoners there. I witnessed that the children of the MPs persecuted in Yassıada [Island/Prison] were humiliated as 'the fallen.' I stood in solidarity with them. I listened to the first witness accounts about the humiliation and torture in Yassıada. I witnessed how the perpetrators were promoted in the military later on and how dirty a war they waged in the 1990s."

'Those who tried me in 2011 are now in prison'

Noting that he was also oppressed and threatened during the military coups on March 12, 1971 and on September 12, 1980, Ragıp Zarakolu has said, "In 2006, I was threatened along with Hrant Dink by a circle which is now the pillar of the government" and added the following in brief:

"If the chaos plan did not come to fruition in 2007, it was because of the outburst of conscience that took place in all segments of the society in the face of Hrant Dink's heinous assassination. The pro-coup circles shot themselves in the foot by massacring Hrant Dink.

"In 2011, I was taken into custody and arrested on ridiculous grounds. The group who arrested me, but then had to release me before even the trial began due to national and international outrage are now behind bars with their police, prosecutor and judge."

Concluding his remarks, Ragıp Zarakolu has indicated that he was also affected by "the attempted coup / counter-coup in 2016" and added: "And the moral of the story is the following: Everyone might and will need human rights and justice one day."

Click to read Ragıp Zarakolu's article "Makus kaderden kaçış yok" (There is no escape from ill fortune) on Artı Gerçek and Evrensel.

About Ragıp Zarakolu

Journalist and writer.

In 1968, he began writing for "Ant" and "Yeni Ufuklar" magazines.

When the military junta assumed power in Turkey on March 12, 1971, Ragıp Zarakolu was tried on charges of "secret relations to Amnesty International". He spent five months behind bars before the charges were dropped. In 1972, Ragıp Zarakolu was sentenced to 2 years' imprisonment for his article in the journal Ant (Pledge) on Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnam War. He was released in 1974 following a general amnesty.

In 1979, Zarakolu was one of the founders of the daily newspaper Demokrat and took responsibility for the news desk on foreign affairs. The paper was banned with the military coup on September 12, 1980 and Ragıp Zarakolu was shortly imprisoned in 1982 in connection with this position in Demokrat. He was banned from leaving the country between 1971 and 1991. In 1986, he became one of 98 founders of the Human Rights Association (İHD). For some time Ragıp Zarakolu chaired the Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN in Turkey.

Ragıp Zarakolu was given the NOVIB/PEN Free Expression Award in 2003. In September 2008, the International Publishers Association (IPA) awarded Ragıp Zarakolu the 2008 IPA Freedom to Publish Prize to "[send] a message to the Turkish authorities that domestic legislation must be further amended to meet international freedom of expression standards". In March 2012, the Assyrian Culture Centre in Stockholm, Sweden, granted the Assyrian Cultural Award to Ragıp Zarakolu, then in prison, for being an advocate for human and minority rights in Turkey and Europe.

* Source: Wikipedia

(HA/SD)