Ahmet Altan speaks on his three books written in prison and fear

Click to read the article in Turkish

Having served 4.5 years behind bars in total, novelist and journalist Ahmet Altan (71) spoke to the press for the first time after he was released from prison on April 14, 2021 following a Court of Cassation ruling.

Altan answered the questions of Yasemin Çongar in the Kıraathane Literature House's YouTube channel. The title of the conversation was "Three Books Written in Prison" and, as the name of the event suggests, Ahmet Altan read excerpts from the three books that he had written in prison, namely "I will Never See the World Again", "Lady Life" and "Dice."

Imprisonment in Silivri

Starting the interview, Yasemin Çongar asked Ahmet Altan, "How are you?" He answered, "I am a bit excited. Because whenever I speak on TV, they put me in jail. I have come here to try my luck again."

Talking about his life in Silivri Prison in İstanbul, Altan said: "I am really fine. I am in good health and high spirits. I took good care of myself in prison. Prison is not a place to be afraid of that much, after all. There is a motto, as you know: 'Silivri must be cold.' Let me tell you: Silivri is not cold.

The heaters are working quite well, the food is not bad at all. If you walk in its yard and do sports well, there is not much to be afraid of. It is not a threat that would lead you to imprison your entire life inside a fear; it is not a place where you will give up on your own personality or honor because of this fear. It is something scary for the guy outside. Because this is the severest punishment found by people besides killing, after all. They lock you up... But humans are strong creatures.

Ahmet Altan on fear

"I understand a person who is afraid. I am not against people being afraid. Fear is - of course - something very human. But what I try to say is this: It is not something to boast of. Don't turn this into a matter of judgement. If you are afraid, then be afraid, but don't normalize the fear to such an extent. It is almost something to boast of. Just try not to be afraid a little.

"There are guys who are not afraid. You always want to have guys who are not afraid. Then, don't be afraid yourself. Don't be afraid. Why are you afraid? There is not much to be afraid of. I was jailed, I served some time and went out; I was jailed again, served some time and went out again. I would be jailed, serve some time and go out again."

Why his books not published in Turkish

In response to a question regarding why his books are not published in Turkish, Ahmet Altan asked Çongar, "Are you asking this to me?" and added:

"The one who makes the decision about publishing a book is not the writer. I write and there needs to be someone who has the means to publish it. Everest wants to publish it. But we are in Turkey, we cannot speak so sure about anything. It wants to publish the essays, it will probably do so.

But let me tell you: Every writer wants his or her book to be published in the language it was written in. This is my country. If it is not published, it is not because of the writer. No one came to me and said, 'Let me publish' and I did not say, 'Then, do it.' Because if you say, 'Publish' and that guy or woman is afraid... I did not want to put them in the position of cowards for no reason. If they are not afraid, they will come and say.

"They do not publish your book in your country, but you are making a name for yourself in the world. This is quite showy for a writer. It means the following: If you disregard me, I will disregard you. Nothing will be lost in my life, I can exist in this world.

"Turkey makes one have doubts about oneself. How can I object to my book being published in my country when someone comes to me to publish it? This is a quite sound venture; I would - of course - have it published.

"They call me arrogant. I am most probably arrogant. But not to the point that I do not have my books published in my country... A person loves his or her country, be that good or bad. We sometimes have to say 'unfortunately'."

NOTE: Most recently, "Lady Life", published in French and Italian, has been named the Best European novel by Transfuge magazine in France. The book, the latest novel of Altan, has also been nominated for the "best foreign novel" award at Prix Médicis, a prestigious literary award given in France each year in November.

About Ahmet Altan

Writer and journalist.

Born in Ankara on March 2, 1950, Ahmet Altan graduated from the School of Economics of the Istanbul University. In the decades that followed, he worked his way around newspapers from the night shift to the head of the foreign desk to managing editor.

In 1995, in his regular column in the newspaper Milliyet, he wrote a powerful defense of the rights of the Kurdish minority in Turkey, suggesting to his Turkish readers to assume for a moment that they lived in a country called "Kurdiye, instead of Turkiye, founded by a leader called Atakurd instead of Ataturk, and that they were banned from speaking, writing, and learning Turkish."

First, Milliyet asked him to resign; then, Altan was tried by a State Security Court and sentenced to 20 months in prison. Since then he has been put on trial over 100 times for his political writing.

In 2007, Altan became founding editor-in-chief and lead columnist of the daily Taraf newspaper and remained in that position until resigning in December 2012.

Throughout his journalistic career, Ahmet Altan continued to write novels and literary essays. His first novel Dört Mevsim Sonbahar (Four Seasons of Autumn) was published in 1982, when the author was 32 years old, and brought him the Akademi Bookstore Novel Prize. His second novel Sudaki İz (Trace on the Water) was condemned as obscene by an Istanbul court, which ordered the burning of the copies of the novel.

Since then he has published eight more novels and seven collections of essays. Kılıç Yarası Gibi (Like a Sword Wound), a best seller and the first volume in Altan's Ottoman Quartet — a turn of the century family saga in four novels all inspired by Altan's own grandfather's life — was awarded the prestigious Yunus Nadi Novel Prize in Turkey. Altan's novels have been translated into over a dozen languages.

I Will Never See the World Again is his eighth collection of essays and his first book to come out in translation before appearing in its original Turkish. An earlier (2004) volume of essays, İçimizde Bir Yer (Somewhere Inside Us), sold a million copies in Turkey.

In 2018, Altan wrote a book of essays in prison with the title "I Will Never See the World Again," which was published in Spanish, German and Italian in Autumn 2018.

This book is special in Altan's career not only because of the circumstances of its creation, it's the author's first book ever that came out in translation before his native Turkish.

In 2009, Altan was awarded the Prize for the Freedom and Future of the Media by the Media Foundation of the Sparkasse Leipzig. In 2011, he received the International Hrant Dink Award. The Turkish Publishers Association awarded its 2013 Freedom of Thought and Expression Prize to Ahmet Altan and the Istanbul Human Rights Association Freedom of Thought and Expression Prize was given to Altan in 2017, albeit in absentia while in prison.

* An abridged version of Altan's biography on his official website

Ahmet Altan's trial

Ahmet Altan was first detained on September 1, 2016, in an investigation into the failed coup attempt in July.

On September 23, 2016, he was remanded in custody for "being a member of an armed terrorist organization and attempting to overthrow the government of Turkey or to prevent it from fulfilling its duties."

He was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for "attempting to overthrow the constitutional order" in February 2018 because of three of his articles published before the coup attempt.

The 2nd Penal Chamber of the İstanbul Regional Court of Justice (the appeals court) rejected Altan's appeals and ruled for the continuation of his imprisonment.

The 16th Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation overturned the verdict in July 2019 and ruled that Altan should stand trial not for "attempted overthrow of the constitutional order" but "knowingly and willingly aiding a terrorist organization despite not being included in the hierarchical structure in the organization."

In line with the high court's decision, the İstanbul 26th Heavy Penal Court sentenced Altan to 10 years and 6 months for this crime on November 4, 2019. It ruled for his release considering the time he served in prison.

On November 6, 2019, the prosecutor's office appealed his release. After the court's rejection, the appeal was sent to the İstanbul 27th Heavy Penal Court, which accepted the request and ruled that Altan should be arrested again.

Altan was sent to prison again on November 13.

In the trial of journalist-writer Ahmet Altan and journalist Nazlı Ilıcak for "evoking a coup", the Court of Cassation reversed the verdict and ruled for the release of Altan, considering the time he had spent behind bars.

Shortly after this ruling was pronounced, Ahmet Altan was released from Silivri Prison at the outskirts of İstanbul on April 14, 2021.

(EMK/SD)

FIRST INTERVIEW AFTER RELEASE