Turkey: PEN Free Expression Award winner, Nedim Sener, and writer Ahmet Sik formally charged

English PEN protests the detention of writers Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener. On 6 March 2011, Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener were both formally charged with being members of the Ergenekon organisation, and taken to Metris Prison in Istanbul to await trial. Both Şık and Şener are believed to be detained for their research into and writings about the Ergenekon investigation under which over 200 people are being tried on allegations of involvement in coup plots. English PEN considers that the two men are held solely for their writings and calls for their release.

Nedim Şener is the winner of the 2010 Oxfam/Novib PEN Freedom of Expression award and was named World Press Freedom Hero by the International Press Institute in 2010. He was tried and acquitted in 2010 for his book that implicates the Turkish security forces in the 2007 murder of the Turkish Armenian newspaper editor, Hrant Dink. He has since written two other books on related issues Red Friday – Who Broke Dink’s Pen? and Fetullah Gülen and the Gülen Community in Ergenekon Documents. It is thought that Şener’s arrest is linked to his research into suggestions that the Gülen movement, an Islamic organisation that promotes inter-faith dialogue, holds undue influence in the Ergenekon investigation. Earlier this year Şener reported that he had received death threats following comments suggesting that the police accused of negligence during the inquiry into Hrant Dink’s death were also linked to Ergenekon.

Police are said to have seized the draft manuscript of a book by Ahmet Şık, who, like Şener, has written books investigating Ergenekon. He too is said to have looked into the alleged affiliation of police to the Gülen movement. He is already on trial for ‘divulging state secrets’ in two books on Ergenekon, co-authored with journalist Ertugrul Maviolgu; the trial opened in October 2010 and, if convicted, he faces over four years in prison.
 
Since June 2007 there have been a series of arrests of leading figures in the military, politics and police force, as well as writers, academics and journalists. Now numbering over 200, they are accused of membership of the neo-nationalist organisation Ergenekon. Its aim is said to be to overthrow the government and it is linked to several assassinations, including that of Hrant Dink. There have been concerns about the conduct of the investigation. The trials opened in October 2008 and are likely to go on for several years.
 
Turkish journalists are shocked by the 3 March arrests, and have staged demonstrations in Istanbul and Ankara. Commenting on the recent raid, Ertugrul Mavioglu pointed out that it was Şık’s articles, entitled ‘Coup Diaries’ published in 2007 in Nokta magazine, that had led to the opening of the Ergenekon investigation itself.  PEN Turkey has joined the protests against the arrests.
 
Others arrested on 3 March include:
 
Yalçin Küçük, a writer, historian and academic, known for his strong secularist, left wing views. He was arrested January 2009 in the Ergenekon case, and freed pending trial.
 
Dogan Yurdakal, author of a book on the Turkish intelligence services.
 
Mümtaz Idil, Iklim Ayfer Kaleli, Sait Çakir, Aydin Biyikli, Coskun Musluk, Müyesser Yildiz – all journalists working for Oda TV.
 
 
For more information go to:
 
The European Commission expresses concern at the arrests
 
Hurriyet on the support from journalists

Time magazine ‘Why is Turkey Arresting Journalists?”
 

Please send appeals:

- Expressing concern about that the arrests of Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener appear to be directly linked to their writings, and;
- Referring to fears that they could face prosecution on charges that contravene their right to freedom of expression as guaranteed under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
 
Send appeals to:

Mr Sadullah Ergin
Minister of Justice
06669 Kizilay
Ankara
Turkey

Fax: 00 90 312 419 3370

Please also send copies of your appeal letter to the Turkish ambassador in your country:

His Excellency Mr Mehmet Yigit Alpogan
Embassy of the Republic of Turkey
43 Belgrave Square
London
SW1X 8PA
Fax: 020 7393 0066