PEN International: Release Our Honorary Member Selahattin Demirtaş

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Publishing a statement on its website yesterday (December 20), PEN International has called the authorities in Turkey to abide by the verdict of release given by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and immediately release former Co-Chair of Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş, who has been behind bars since November 4, 2016.

CLICK - ECtHR: Selahattin Demirtaş Should Be Released

Referring to the ruling of the ECtHR, which stated that Turkey "should take all necessary measures to put an end to the pre-trial detention" of Selahattin Demirtaş, Carles Torner, Executive Director of PEN International has said,

"As a member state of the Council of Europe, Turkey must respect its international obligations and fully implement judgments of the ECtHR."

"The Turkish authorities must immediately release Selahattin Demirtaş from his illegal pre-trial detention," Carles Torner has added.

Demirtaş elected "honorary member" by 3 PEN centers

In its statement, PEN International has also announced that "German PEN, PEN Mexico and PEN Català have elected Selahattin Demirtaş as an honorary member of their Centre."

Under the heading "Solidarity action," the organization has also invited other PEN centers to follow suit and stated, "Please consider electing Selahattin Demirtaş as an honorary member of your Centre."

"PEN Translates" award to his story book "Seher"

Earlier this week, English PEN also announced that the story book "Seher" (Dawn), which was written by Demirtaş while he was in prison, has been awarded the "PEN Translates" award along with the English translations of 15 other books from 15 countries and 12 languages.

CLICK - 'PEN Translates' Award to 'Seher' Written by Demirtaş

"Seher" translated into 8 languages

Having been published in Turkey in Turkish on September 16, 2017, "Seher" has been translated into 8 languages so far.

As shared with bianet by AnatoliaLit Agency, which has the publication rights of the book, the titles, translators and publishing houses of the international editions are as follows:

Arabic - Reem Dawood / (Al Arabi)
Dutch - Hanneke van der Heijden / (Signatuur)
English - Amy Marie Spangler & Kate Ferguson / (Hogarth US-JSP imprint, Hogarth UK)
French - Julien Lapeyre de Cabanes / (Emmanuelle Collas)
German - Gerhard Meier / (Penguin Verlag)
Greek - Stella Vretou / (Pataki)
Italian - Nicola Verderame / (Feltrinelli)
Kurdish (Kurmanji) - Rêdûr Dîjle / (Aram)
Kurdish (Sorani) - Ferhat Çomani / (Xezelnus)

The Persian, Chinese and Japanese editions of the book will also be published. (HK/SD)