Letter from Zarakolu - UPDATE
Letter from Zarakolu - UPDATE
Sending a statement from the prison through his lawyer, KCK detainee publisher Ragýp Zarakolu said that; “My arrest and the accusations of being a member of an illegal organisation are part of a campaign to intimidate all intellectuals and democrats living in Turkey and, more specifically, to isolate Kurds.” Zarakolu called everyone to display a common reaction against this wave of detention which has become a campaign of social lynching.
"The police forces that searched my home found nothing more than what you would normally find in a writer’s home and confiscated these items as ‘evidence’" says the letter.
Zarakolu, who was arrested with another 43 KCK detainees including Prof. Büþra Ersanlý, remarked that the documents found in his house and seized by police as criminal evidences were of the same kind that could be found in the house of any publisher or writer.
Among these were “Ender Önder’s book named ‘Habiba’, Doðan Özgüden’s book ‘Stateless Journalists’, Yüksel Genç’s book with the name ‘Peace Process’, edited draft book ‘Armenian Genocide in German Documents’ and the draft of a book ‘Armenian Oral History Work’.”
Zarakolu writes that "The government must give an explanation for why I was arrested only a week before I was due to travel to a conference in Berlin and, from there, to conferences at Colgate University (USA) and in Los Angeles and Michigan. Under custody, - he adds - I was deprived of all of my bank and credit cards, which are being kept by the authorities.
It is yet unclear when I will be able to exercise my right to trial, and it is evident that this state of affairs may last for months".
As to what he was asked, the publisher writes that "I have not been asked a single question regarding the organisation I am accused of being a member of; rather, I have only been pressed on works that I have written or edited, speeches I have given, and free and public meetings I have attended".
The letter ends with an appeal, by the publisher. "I believe - he writes - that it is time to show a collective opposition to this wave of arrests, which has become a campaign of mass lynching, and that all moves by the authorities that go against the law and principles of due legal process must now cease".
"The police forces that searched my home found nothing more than what you would normally find in a writer’s home and confiscated these items as ‘evidence’" says the letter.
Zarakolu, who was arrested with another 43 KCK detainees including Prof. Büþra Ersanlý, remarked that the documents found in his house and seized by police as criminal evidences were of the same kind that could be found in the house of any publisher or writer.
Among these were “Ender Önder’s book named ‘Habiba’, Doðan Özgüden’s book ‘Stateless Journalists’, Yüksel Genç’s book with the name ‘Peace Process’, edited draft book ‘Armenian Genocide in German Documents’ and the draft of a book ‘Armenian Oral History Work’.”
Zarakolu writes that "The government must give an explanation for why I was arrested only a week before I was due to travel to a conference in Berlin and, from there, to conferences at Colgate University (USA) and in Los Angeles and Michigan. Under custody, - he adds - I was deprived of all of my bank and credit cards, which are being kept by the authorities.
It is yet unclear when I will be able to exercise my right to trial, and it is evident that this state of affairs may last for months".
As to what he was asked, the publisher writes that "I have not been asked a single question regarding the organisation I am accused of being a member of; rather, I have only been pressed on works that I have written or edited, speeches I have given, and free and public meetings I have attended".
The letter ends with an appeal, by the publisher. "I believe - he writes - that it is time to show a collective opposition to this wave of arrests, which has become a campaign of mass lynching, and that all moves by the authorities that go against the law and principles of due legal process must now cease".
