ISTANBUL, Turkey–Publisher Ragip Zarakolu is currently kept at the Metris high-security prison while his son Deniz Zarakolu, an editor of the Belge Publishing House, is under arrest at the Edirne Prison., reported Info-Turk.be.
In his first letter sent from prison through his lawyer Özcan Kiliç, Ragip Zarakolu said: “My arrest and the accusation of membership to an illegal organization are parts of a campaign that aims to intimidate all intellectuals and democrats of Turkey and, particularly, to deprive the Kurds of support.”
Zarakolu said that during the raid to his house the police confiscated only few books as “evidence of crime” and found nothing about his so-called relations with any organization.
The confiscated books are: Vol. 2 of Vatansiz Gazeteci (Stateless Journalist) by Dogan Özgüden, chief editor of Info-Türk; Habiba by Ender Öndes; Peace Process by Yüksel Genç; and manuscripts of three books about the Armenian Genocide and Armenian History.
He added that at the police headquarters, his credit and debit cards were confiscated.
Reminding that he is invited to speak at a conference next week in Berlin and then at other conferences and events in the U.S., Zarakolu said, “The government should provide them [the organizers] with an explanation for my arrest.”
Zarakolu concluded his letter with the following appeal:
“During my interrogation, they did not ask any question about the organization to which I was accused of being a member. They questioned me only about the books I wrote or edited for publication, and the public meetings I attended or spoke at. I think that everybody should jointly react against these arrests that have turned into a mass lynching campaign. These illegal practices should be stopped.”
Can the weekly or any readers tell us how we can protest against these arrests?
This is absolutely absurd.. and ignorant denialists say that democracy exist in TUrkey? YEAH RIGHT!!
I agree with Hasmik.. maybe we can start a petition or find ways to protect such individuals from ridiculeous arrests..
Gayane
Hasmig
I wrote to Christian Science Monitor
Any body can write
Also I will write to huffington post…
Already Armenians in France protested.
you can write many sites…
SP
jda posted some things to do in this thread under Comments:
http://armenianweekly.com/2011/10/29/publisher-human-rights-activist-ragip-zarakolu-arrested/#comments
For those of you who don’t know about Turkish penal code 301:
ARTICLE 301 – (1) Turkishness, the Republic or the Grand National Assembly of Turkey denigrates person, shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to three years.
(2) the Government of the Republic of Turkey, the judicial organs of State, Public denigration of the military or security organizations, shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to two years.
(3) denigration of Turkishness is committed by a Turkish citizen in a foreign country, the penalty shall be increased by one third.
(4) Expressions of thought intended to criticize shall not constitute a crime.
This is why those brainwashed Turks, like “Robert the Turk” afraid to talk about penal code 301…they have no ba*** to tell their own people about the truth of Armenian genocide…this is time, for Mrs. Clinton to go back Turkey and ask for Mr. Zarakolu’s freedom personally…enough is enough… she should send a letter to ATC as well!!Shame to Turkish “civilized” government, and shame to US to have an “uncivilized” friend like Turkey!!
Amen to that Grish jan.. Clinton acts all mighty and powerful but she is worst than a criminal because she is protecting THE WORLD’S MOST NOTORIOUS PLAYER and WORST HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATOR… SHAME ON US for standing behind Tukey.. Shame on US…
Gayane
Hasmig,
Try this website: http://www.hrw.org
Our struggle in the battle to win public opinion(or at least to get the truth to prevail) is to connect the human rights behavior of the current Turkish government with their Ottoman predecessors. In the absence of this linkage , we constantly run the risk of being yesterday’s news. Granted this is insulting to us, but it is essentially an emotional response on our part. The “what have you done for me lately” reality show of modern government only looks at what “is in their interests”.
The treatment of the Kurds in modern Turkey is an Ottoman replay of Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians. It is our interests to use our public relations mechanisms to bring the Kurdish reality to light. it is the most viable evidence of the oppressive and denialist Turkey we know…. not the not the political opportunists that project themselves as the benevolent protector of “Anatolian history” and “caretaker” of minority rights.
Our resolve must be to do what is in our interests. The plight of the Kurds, aside from a human rights tragedy, provides a current linkage to our plight. The evidence is abundant. We simply need to exploit it.
Stepan jan.. you are absolutely right…