Turkyilmaz Trial
Yektan Turkyilmaz Trial, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian
RFE/RL covers the third day of the Turkyilmaz trial and says that despite an international outcry, prosecutors in Yerevan appear unwilling to drop the charges against the young Turkish scholar of Kurdish descent. Turkyilmaz stands accused of attempting to take books over 50 years old out of the country. Present was Orin Starn, a professor from Duke University in the United States where Turkyilmaz is completing his PhD.
“I’m here to let it be known that Duke University fully supports Yektan,” he said. “I am the supervisor of his dissertation and I can not believe that he would knowingly break the law in any way. So I hope for his speedy release.”
The president of Duke University, Richard Brodhead, wrote to President Robert Kocharian on August 1, calling for the scholar’s release. “As the leader of a great country, you have the ability to intervene in this matter and to determine the appropriateness of the actions of your government and the Armenian prosecutors and police,” he said. Kocharian has not yet responded to the letter, according to Starn.
Also present was Hrant Dink, a journalist and editor of Armenian descent currently facing prosecution in Turkey. Dink is one of hundreds of Armenian, Turkish and foreign academics, journalists and figures in the public eye who have rallied to the 33-year old’s defense.
“It must be admitted that Yektan certainly did something wrong with regard to the laws of the Republic of Armenia,” he told RFE/RL. “But Yektan is not a criminal. He is a serious intellectual. He committed a serious offence unintentionally and you just can’t use books for criminal prosecution. Such things are not accepted in the world.”
Dink, who himself is facing a possible jail sentence in Turkey for publicly emphasizing his Armenian heritage, also pointed out that Turkyilmaz is among few Turkish academics who openly question Ankara’s decades-long denial of the Armenian genocide. “We [Istanbul’s Armenian community] have a handful of Turkish intellectuals standing by our side and Yektan is one of them,” he said.
As the trial continues, RFE/RL’s account of the day’s proceedings can be found online here. All of the posts relating to this case on this site can be found here. A site in support of the academic is also online at http://www.yektan.org. Other sites such as Blogrel have also been following the case.
Yektan Turkyilmaz Update
Oneworld has great commentary and photos from the Turkyilmaz trial today. Thanks Onnik!…
Trackback by Blogrel — August 15, 2005 @ 8:47 pm
89 old books, 7 very rare ( incl 2 bibles from the 17e century !!)… how is it possible to ignore it was illegal ??? every lands have such laws.
Comment by jerome — August 15, 2005 @ 11:59 pm
I don’t know. There are hundreds if not thousands of old books shops in the U.K. and I can even order rare books over the Internet. Let’s face it, the books were mainly bought at the Vernisage and I wonder how many Diasporans also have copies of old and rare books they took out of Armenia without declaring them. So, the issue is does this law fit in with the times or not? I’m not entirely sure it exists everywhere else in the world. i.e. books freely available for sale in Armenia can be prosecuted with a maximum sentence of 8 years if a document from the Ministry of Culture is not sought. Kind of defeats the purpose of selling them if the vendor does not warn the customer.
Besides, from what we know so far, the former KGB have not even questioned Turkyilmaz about his books. Instead, they have confiscated his research notes and seem more interested in talking to him about that.
On the other hand, yes, there is a law, but as almost everyone else says, why is it possible for senior government officials to break the law on a daily basis in Armenia to the tune of millions of dollars in corruption-related activities and get away with it when a pro-Armenian scholar appears to be singled out for the one time when the law in Armenia is followed to the minutest of details? In a nutshell, this case also illustrates the lack of the rule of law in Armenia and its selective application, possibly for politically motivated reasons (although in this case, the government seems to have shot itself in the foot).
Is it just me or should books of rare and cultural value not be on sale at the Vernisage in the first place? Surely, they should be protected by the state in a museum? I wonder whether Sotherby’s or Christie’s ever have this problem when they sell something at auction?
Comment by Administrator — August 16, 2005 @ 4:09 am