The government of Turkey continues to restrict freedom of expression in the country and intimidate those critical of it. In recent months there has been a new crackdown on social media platforms and publishers. Books deemed ‘detrimental’ to readers attract the censure of both officials and pro-government media outlets, which regularly malign authors, academics and journalists.

A recent victim of this repressive climate is 45-year-old writer and editor Yavuz Ekinci, who has been charged with ‘making terrorist propaganda’. The charges relate to his 2014 novel Rüyası Bölünenler (‘Dream Divided’). The book tells the story of a Kurdish man who leaves Turkey for political reasons and struggles to build a new life in Germany. Upon learning that his father is gravely ill, the protagonist sets out to find his long-lost brother who, years before, had taken up arms and fled to the Qandil Mountains. Rüyası Bölünenler ends with a call for unity and peace.

On 14 March 2023, a court in Istanbul ruled that Rüyası Bölünenler included content amounting to ‘terrorist propaganda’ and banned its publication, distribution and sale. Copies of the book were also confiscated. The case is currently before Turkey’s Constitutional Court. If convicted, Ekinci faces up to seven-and-a-half years in prison under article seven of Turkey’s anti-terror law, which is routinely used to silence independent or critical voices. The next hearing will be held on 9 December.

Ekinci has been targeted before. In March 2022, he was found guilty of ‘making terrorist propaganda’ on charges relating to eight Twitter posts made in 2013 and 2014. He was given a suspended prison sentence of one year, six months and twenty-two days. The tweets did not promote or incite violence, and were mainly concerned with the new year celebrations in Diyarbakır, southeastern Turkey and the fighting around the Syrian city of Kobane. The case is now before Turkey’s Court of Cassation. 

In 2018, a smear campaign was launched online against Ekinci following the publication of his book Peygamberin Endişesi (‘The Prophet’s Concern’). The following extract, translated by Umit Hussein, gives a sense of the book’s tone: 

You hypocrite lecteur – mon semblable – mon frère! You’re wondering how come I’m the prophet. I will tell you my tale if you will listen. I waited. It was as I waited for Gabriel to arrive that I learned that waiting burns more fiercely than fire.

The angel was sitting on a throne assembled between the earth and the sky. My knees buckled beneath me, my tongue became tied, my heart felt as though it was about to fly out of my chest. The angel descended from the throne and, towering over me, boomed, ‘Behold!’ I gasped for breath. My knees trembled. My whole body broke out in a cold sweat. I stared all around me in terror and disbelief. The angel gripped my shoulders, shook me two, three times and said, ‘Behold!’ I was dazzled, everything was a blur. The ceiling bore down on me until I felt it was about to cave in on me and the walls were about to collapse on top of me. I shivered violently. Seizing me by the shoulders and pushing me hard against the wall, the angel thundered, ‘Behold! Open your eyes wide and behold!’ Raising my head, I looked at his face, petrified.

The angel said, ‘O Mehdi! You are the Lord’s ambassador and I am Gabriel!’ At that moment everything was plunged into a profound silence. The objects flying around me remained suspended in the air. The people making a commotion as they walked down the street fell silent, the wind beating the branches subsided, the cars driving up and down hills stopped. The angel touched my eyelids, lips and ears with his fingers.

Ekinci has received multiple awards for his short stories, including the 2005 Haldun Taner Award and the 2007 Yunus Nadi Award. His work often focuses on the plight of Kurdish people in Turkey and has been translated into German, Greek and Kurdish. He also works as a teacher and editor of Kurdish literature. 

‘The targeting of Yavuz Ekinci sends a dangerous warning to fellow writers in Türkiye, who risk being vilified and sent to jail merely for writing books that ostensibly do not toe the official line or dare explore difficult themes,’ said PEN International president Burhan Sonmez, calling Ekinci’s trial ‘preposterous’.

Readers might like to send appeals urging the Turkish authorities to stop censoring and persecuting writers, such as Yavuz Ekinci, who exercise their legitimate right of freedom of expression, and seeking assurances that the government will allow Ekinci’s work – and that of numerous other writers facing similar restrictions – to reach all those who wish to read it.

Appeals to be addressed to: 

His Excellency Yılmaz Tunç
Minister of Justice
Email: info@adalet.gov.tr
Twitter: @yilmaztunc

His Excellency Koray Ertaş
Turkish Embassy
43 Belgrave Square
London SW1X 8PA
Email: embassy.london@mfa.gov.tr
Twitter: @TurkEmbLondon

Update: On 5 September 2024, the Nicaraguan authorities released 135 political prisoners and deported them to Guatemala. Among those released was writer and academic Freddy Antonio Quezada (LR, February) who was arrested at his home on 29 November 2023 after writing social media posts critical of the Nicaraguan government.