Turkish-born writer innocent on murder charge, friends say

Turkish-born writer innocent on murder charge, friends say

Thursday, September 2, 2010

VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Writer, interpreter and human rights defender Doğan Akhanlı was recently taken into custody at Istanbul’s Atatürk’s Airport and sent to prison for a murder he allegedly committed in 1989, sparking anger and concern from his friends. Akhanlı was remanded in custody after an Aug. 27 hearing, leading his lawyer to criticize Turkey’s justice system

A famous Turkish-born writer, translator and human rights defender recently detained in Istanbul for a murder committed 21 years ago is innocent of the charges, according to his friends, his lawyer and the family of the man killed.

“Justice does not work in Turkey. We have a document that the victim’s sons signed. They say that Akhanlı is not the murderer of their father, and they did not pick him out him as a murderer after the event, but he has still not been released,” Haydar Erol, lawyer for Doğan Akhanlı, said following the case’s first court hearing at the Beşiktaş High Criminal Court on Aug. 27.

According to the indictment, Akhanlı, a German citizen with a number of books to his name, was taken into custody Aug. 10 at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport on charges that he killed a currency exchange office owner in the city’s Tahtakale neighborhood in 1989. The indictment also said three unnamed suspects were detained three years after the killing, but one of them, an alleged right-wing sympathizer, had identified Akhanlı, who was arrested following the 1980 coup for membership in an illegal leftist political group, as the murderer. The sons of the murder victim also had identified Akhanlı out of a police lineup, the indictment said.

Two of the victim’s sons, however, presented a signed declaration at the courthouse after the first hearing, saying Akhanlı was not their father’s killer and that they had not identified him as the perpetrator in the past.

Despite efforts by the German Consulate as well, Akhanlı was remanded in custody after the trial and transferred to the Tekirdağ F-type Prison.

Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review after the Aug. 27 hearing, Akhanlı’s friend, writer Selami Gürel, said he was extremely distressed by the charges.

“Nobody caught Akhanlı. He came to Turkey willingly. If he were guilty, would he have come to the country? He was planning to see his 90-year-old father on his deathbed,” Gürel said.

“The imprisonment of Akhanlı, who has positive effects on many people with his pen, is clear evidence that the Sept. 12 military dictatorship still exists,” Turkish Writers Union Secretary-General Tevfik Taş said. “Those speaking about social freedom, including governmental officials, will have to think about this once again. Without a democratic constitution, talking about individual rights and freedom of thought is like pacing in a cage.”

Turkish Human Rights Association founder Ragıp Zarakolu said they thought Akhanlı was still under arrest because of his close interest in the Armenian issue.

“How is it that an intellectual writer is imprisoned?” Zarakolu asked. “This is a shame.”

German Consulate’s steps insufficient

Speaking about Akhanlı’s arrest upon his arrival in Turkey, Gürel said: “I knew he would be arrested because there was a warrant against him, but I though he would be released shortly.”

Gürel said he was also an active member of a left-wing organization in the time leading up to the 1980 coup.

“I went to Germany right after the coup and returned 20 years later even though I knew I would be arrested. I was released a short time later, not imprisoned like Akhanlı,” he said.

Gürel said the German Consulate was closely following Akhanlı’s condition in prison but that its steps had not been enough. “As well as his prison conditions, they should closely follow the judicial process.”

Akhanlı was born in 1957 in Şavşat district of the Black Sea province of Artvin and is now a resident of Cologne, Germany. His book, “The Judges of the Apocalypse,” was published in 1999 and explored the history of the so-called genocide committed by the Ottomans in the early 20th century against Armenians in what is today eastern Turkey. He is known for writing about minorities and has published many works since fleeing Turkey and moving to Germany in 1992.

Doğan Akhanlı

Turkish-born writer Doğan Akhanlı was arrested following the 1980 coup for his left-wing political activity and was incarcerated at Istanbul Military Prison from 1985 to 1987.

He moved to Germany in 1992 and wrote many books, including “Kayıp Denizler” (The Lost Seas) “Denizi Beklerken” (Waiting for the Sea), “Gelincik Tarlası” (The Poppy Field) and “Kıyamet Günü Yargıçları” (The Judges of the Apocalypse). He was stripped of his Turkish citizenship in 1998 and received German citizenship in 2001.

Akhanlı’s novel “Madonna’nın Son Hayali” (The Madonna’s Last Dream) featuring the Struma, a ship that sank in the Black Sea with 700 Jewish refugees aboard, was considered by critics as one of the best books of 2005. Working as a guide in EL-DE House, an old Gestapo building in Cologne that now serves as a documentation center and museum, Akhanlı has been working on historical issues and human rights for many years.