Fictional characters from book on trial in

Fictional characters from book on trial in
Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Vercihan Ziflioğlu

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

‘Ölümden Zor Kararlar’ (Decisions tougher than death), a novel by N. Mehmet Güler, has been banned and its author and publisher are standing trial because of imaginary characters in the work.

Author Mehmet Güler (l) and publisher Ragıp Zarakolu (r).

Fictional characters are being put on trial again in Turkey. “Ölümden Zor Kararlar” (Decisions tougher than death), a novel by N. Mehmet Güler that was published through Belge International Publishing last March, has become the focus of a criminal case for making propaganda for an illegal organization.

Author Güler and publisher Zarakolu are standing trial at the Istanbul Court of Serious Crimes. The novel was added to the list of banned books in June and copies have been recalled from the market. The second hearing of the trial was held Dec. 3 and the next hearing will be March 10.

Many writers and translators have been put on trial in recent years under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. The first example of imaginary characters standing trial occurred with Elif Şafak’s novel, “The Bastard of Istanbul.” Şafak stood trial for “insulting Turkishness” through an Armenian character in her novel and was acquitted.

‘My dreams are on trial’

The Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review talked to Güler and Zarakolu right after the hearing. “The trial turned out to be like a present for my 40th anniversary in journalism,” said Zarakolu, who is a founder of a human rights association and won many national and international prizes for journalism. “Over 50 cases have been opened against me; I have become addicted to it,” he said. “Should the writer be free in his thoughts or should he serve the principles of the state and militarism?”

He compared current conditions to living in the era of Sultan Abduülhamit and noted that the “oppressor mentality” must be overcome. “These cases drag Turkey’s already bad image into a dead end,” he said.

“My dreams are on trial. They consider thoughts as crimes,” Güler said.

Autobiographic traces in the novel

The author of the novel tells stories of clashes between the right and left in Turkey during the 1970s, Kurdish youth who head for the mountains to join the ranks of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and torture experienced in prisons through characters named Sıti, Sadri and Hayri.

Güler’s novel features autobiographic traces. He is of Kurdish origin and was arrested in 1990 when he was a history student at Ankara University on charges of having contact with illegal organizations. Güler was put on trial and sentenced to 15 years. He served the sentence at the Ulucanlar and Çankırı prisons at Ankara. “I was only 22 years old. They could not find anything criminal against me; I had not made any action. They only determined that some of my friends were members of [illegal] organizations; that was it,” Güler said.

Writings confiscated by prison administration

Güler did not stop writing during his prison years while he was trying to prove his innocence. He wrote a three-volume book of 1,100 pages called “Yakınçağ Kürt Tarihi” (Contemporary Kurdish History), which was taken out of prison through personal efforts and published in France. According to Güler, the book can be found all over Europe today.

The writer also wrote two books of short stories called “Rüyalar yarım Kalmaz” (Dreams do not cut in half) and “Vakit Tamamdı” (It was time). “The prison administration confiscated them when I was being released,” said Güler. “The prosecutor told me, ‘If you take these books with you, I will have you arrested again.’ I had no choice but to leave them.”

Self-censoring while writing

Güler said he practices self-censoring while writing due to his bad experiences. “From time to time, I say to myself I should not write so keenly here,” he said, adding that he is ashamed of this.

He said “Ölümden Zor Kararlar” would be completed in three volumes and the next two will be finished soon. The book will be translated into foreign languages and will reach European readers next year. “I am a writer of Kurdish origin. I was shaped by the problems my society is experiencing; otherwise, my characters would not be this deep.”

He ended by reflecting that the “Kurdish initiative” will help solve the Kurdish problem “because there is no turning back from such a road.”