Free in other prisons, book banned in Bolu Prison for 'jeopardizing security'
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The administration of the Bolu Type F Prison in western Turkey has banned the book "Firari Yazılar" (Fugitive Writings) co-edited by Adil Okay and Dr. Ayhan Kavak and featuring interviews with 38 imprisoned writers and poets, including Erol Zavar, Gültan Kışanak, Leyla Atabay and former Co-Chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş.
A legal book with an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) allocated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism is not given to Erol Zavar.
While the book is free in other prisons and sold in bookstores, it is not let in the Bolu Prison. Adil Okay, a co-editor of the book and the Spokesperson for the "Görülmüştür Kolektifi" (Seen Collective), has made a statement about the ban of the Bolu Prison administration.
According to Adil Okay, the people at the "Book Education Commission" of the Bolu Prison concluded that "the book would jeopardize the security of the institution without reading the book." Okay has explained that "the book consists of the letters coming from prisons with a stamp of 'Seen' as the book features interviews with prisoners about art and life."
"Besides, this book entered dozens of prisons without any problems; it was given to its owners without any obstructions by the Education Commissions of other prisons," Okay has underlined.
He has also announced that following this decision of ban, Erol Zavar submitted a petition of objection to the Judgeship of Execution but the judgeship has also deemed the book "illegal" and rejected his objection. "They probably did not read the book, either," Okay has commented.
In his last letter to Adil Okay on January 1, 2022, Erol Zavar wrote that he would struggle to the end to receive the book.
Okay has addressed the Justice Minister against this background and asked, "Why is our book forbidden in the Bolu Type F Prison while it is free in other prisons? Why is it found dangerous and tempting? If the decision of the Bolu Prison is right, take action against us and ban our book. If not, what kind of penal action will you take against these arbitrary banners?"
Okay has criticized that "when dissident artists are concerned, the existing laws are disregarded and legally sold books are banned in prisons:
"Writers, poets and writers' organizations must be dissident in such incidents. The follow-up of the arbitrarily banned books should not be solely abandoned to the prisoners with their minds free, but their hands tied. It is also a duty of the writer, poet, journalist and writers' organization to support their legal struggle to obtain and read our books, even their own books." (AÖ/SD)