'Let's not allow lynching of any literary figure'

A collective statement has been issued from the literary world in response to a lynching campaign targeting Elif Şafak on social media platforms following the resolution of the plagiarism lawsuit filed by Mine G. Kırıkkanat against Şafak's work 'Bit Palas' in the first-instance court. 

The court decision had concluded that Şafak committed plagiarism from another work by Kırıkkanat while Şafak and the publishing house had announced their intention to appeal the decision.

According to the news on edebiyatburada.com, the call made by authors, stating "Let's remain loyal to the fundamental values of literature," and the 123 signatories are as follows:

“Following the resolution of the first-instance court on the plagiarism lawsuit filed by Mine G. Kırıkkanat against Elif Şafak's work 'Bit Palas,' some circles initiated a lynching campaign targeting Elif Şafak on social media. The content and tone of the posts suggest that their concerns are not about literature. As literary figures, we are observing this lynching campaign with astonishment and concern.

"We believe that the lynching culture, based on careless and superficial judgments determined by a fanatic supporter mentality, creates a new pressure on our already limited freedom of thought and expression. Beyond that, we think that bringing literary matters into discussion with non-literary criteria and judgments fundamentally targets the freedom of creation that we all share.

"We believe that conflicts and lawsuits between authors should be examined with a serious and calm approach consistent with the values of literature, based on international ethical and legal processes. We do not approve of resolving literary discussions with non-literary criteria. In the ongoing stages of the legal process, we request that the dispute be addressed by a panel of literary experts and that the evaluation made by this panel based on literary criteria be taken into account in the decision-making stage.

"Regardless of the content of the case, our call to all literary figures and writer friends is as follows: Let's not allow any writer - using methods frequently employed by the authorities - to be lynched in this way. Let's remain loyal to the fundamental values of literature."

Signatories:

• Afşin Kum
• Ahmet Karadağ
• Alper Canıgüz
• Altay Öktem
• Anıl Mert Özsoy
• Arzu Erkan
• Aslı Ilgın Kopuz
• Aslı Solakoğlu
• Asuman Susam
• Ayfer Tunç
• Ayşe Sarısayın
• Ayşegül Devecioğlu
• Ayşen Şahin
• Baran Güzel
• Barış Müstecaplıoğlu
• Barış Pirhasan
• Başar Başaran
• Başar Başarır
• Bedia Ceylan Güzelce
• Buket Aybatlı
• Cem Kalender
• Çayan Okuduci
• Çiler İlhan
• Defne Suman
• Deniz Durukan
• Deniz Yüce Başarır
• Doğu Yücel
• Elif Sofya
• Emek Erez
• Ercan Y. Yılmaz
• Esra Yalazan
• Ezgi Altıner
• Fadime Uslu
• Fergun Özelli
• Feride Çiçekoğlu
• Fethiye Çetin
• Figen Alkaç
• Figen Şakacı
• Fuat Sevimay
• Gamze Arslan
• Gaye Boralıoğlu
• Gonca Özmen
• Gönül Kıvılcım
• Gülçin Wilhelm
• Gündüz Vassaf
• Gürsel Korat
• Hakan Akdoğan
• Hakan Bıçakçı
• Hakan R. Temiz
• Hakan Toker
• Herkül Millas
• Hikmet Hükümenoğlu
• Hüsnü Arkan
• İbrahim Halil Çelik
• İlay Bilgili
• İlhami Algör
• İrem Uzunhasanoğlu
• İsmail Güzelsoy
• Jaklin Çelik
• Karin Karakaşlı
• Kemal Varol
• Kerem Eksen
• Latife Tekin
• Mahir Ünsal Eriş
• Mehmet Bilal Dede
• Mehmet Özkan Şüküran
• Melike Koçak
• Menekşe Toprak
• Mesut Varlık
• Mevsim Yenice
• Mihrap Aydın
• Mine Kazmaoğlu
• Mine Soysal
• Muharrem Erbey
• Murat Gülsoy
• Murat Özyaşar
• Murat Uyurkulak
• Murat Yalçın
• Murathan Mungan
• Müren Beykan
• Nermin Yıldırım
• Neslihan Önderoğlu
• Neşe Yaşın
• Nilay Özer
• Nuray Önoğlu
• Nurhan Suerdem
• Onur Bütün
• Orhan Murat Bahtiyar
• Orhan Pamuk
• Oya Baydar
• Oylum Yılmaz
• Özlem Akıncı
• Özgür Soylu
• Pınar Eğilmez
• Polat Özlüoğlu
• Selçuk Çelik
• Sema Kaygusuz
• Semrin Şahin
• Seray Şahiner
• Serkan Türk
• Sevengül Sönmez
• Sevim Erdoğan
• Sevin Okyay
• Sezer Ateş Ayvaz
• Sibel Oral
• Sinem Sal
• Şebnem İşigüzel
• Şükran Yücel
• Taçlı Yazıcıoğlu
• Tahir M. Ceylan
• Tuba Çandar
• Turgay Fişekçi
• Tülin Özgündoğdu Sağlam
• Türkan Elçi
• Ümit Aykut Aktaş
• Ümit Erdem
• Ümit Kıvanç
• Yasemin Yazıcı
• Vahit Uysal
• Yavuz Ekinci
• Yekta Kopan
• Yiğit Bener
• Zülfü Livaneli

(AÖ/PE)