PEN Melbourne’s new honorary member: Jailed journalist Nedim Türfent

* Photo: PEN International

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Behind bars for five years in Turkey, journalist Nedim Türfent has been granted honorary membership by PEN Melbourne in Australia.

Introducing the journalist, PEN Melbourn has said, "Nedim Türfent is a Kurdish journalist and poet. He was imprisoned in 2016 after publicising police harassment of workers in south-east Turkey."

Jackie Mansourian, the Co-Convenor of PEN Melbourne's Writers-in-Prison program, has explained how journalist Nedim Türfent became an Honorary Member of PEN Melbourne briefly as follows:

"In January 2020 Nedim Türfent wrote his first card to us. We were moved by his compassion and concern about the bushfires at that time: 'I'm so sorry about [the] massive forest fires in Australia. Please feel my aching heart. Thank you for your letters. We are at one-heart'.

"Later that year, PEN Melbourne members wrote cards to him during our annual card-writing gathering. As I wrote, I reflected on his circumstances.

"He had been imprisoned since the age of 26 and the first two years were in solitary confinement. I have children of the same age. I thought of them. The pain of imagining them, like Nedim, being treated with such cruelty and disregard was unbearable. I told him that we knew of his circumstances, and were committed to working for his freedom.

"Nedim replied personally to everyone who wrote to him. We were touched and challenged by this response, and made the commitment to invite Nedim to be a PEN Melbourne Honorary Member.

Nedim has accepted our invitation. This means that PEN Melbourne will work purposefully and with many others, for his release. We will also help amplify awareness of his writings.

As reported by the Mezopotamya Agency (MA), Türfent has thanked for the membership by sending a letter from the Van High Security Prison. He has said, "This honor, coming from the farthest side of the borders, has erased the borders desired to be set between us by the hegemons. I extend my gratitude to PEN members for this meaningful membership."

English PEN also appointed him as an honorary member last year.

He writes a column for bianet

Behind bars in Van Prison since 2016, journalist Nedim Türfent has been writing for bianet on his column "Pêgermok", which means "pacing back and forth" in Kurdish. Click here for the articles in English.

What happened?

While he was a reporter for the Dicle News Agency (DİHA), which was closed by a Statutory Decree, journalist Nedim Türfent was detained in Yüksekova in Turkey's Kurdish-majority Hakkari province on May 12, 2016.

One day later, he was arrested on charge of "being a member of a terrorist organization." He was indicted 13 months after his arrest. When his first hearing was held on June 14, 2017, he had been behind bars for 399 days.

Of 20 witnesses who previously spoke against him, 19 witnesses later said that they testified under torture and withdrew their statements. However, disregarding this, the court sentenced Nedim Türfent to 8 years, 9 months in prison based on the first witness statements.

This ruling dated May 21, 2019 was upheld by the Court of Cassation on May 21, 2019. His individual application is still awaiting examination by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). (KÖ/SD)