Turkish writer in court for book controversy (about Armenian genocide)

Turkey is once again sending a controversial message to Europe about its views on human rights. In the past year many of the country's leading writers and journalists have been prosecuted because of speeches and writings that "denigrate Turkishness". But next week, for the first time, an author is on trial not for what she wrote, but rather for the words spoken by a fictional character in her latest novel. The author, Elif Safak, faces six months in jail if convicted.

In a café in central Istanbul Elif Safak receives words of support from customers. She is one of the most well-known of Turkey's new generation of writers, who have led the way in challenging the country's social taboos.

Her latest book is a heady combination of sexual abuse and memories of an historical tragedy. But now she is facing a possible jail sentence. Safak is being prosecuted for a speech made by a character in her latest book - a speech that accuses Turks of committing genocide against the Armenians 90 years ago. Prosecutors believe the novel violates Article 301 of the country's penal code, which criminalises insults against Turkishness. Safak says the case is another worrying step in the silencing of expression in Turkey. "I think it is so absurd, it is so surreal, because we are talking about a work of fiction, we are talking about a novel. Until today Article 301 has been used as a weapon to silence many people, but in another sense my case is very unusual because it is fiction."

"If Article 301 is going to be interpreted like this, we cannot write novels in this country anymore, you cannot do movies in this country anymore."

Nationalists tried to attack writer Perihan Magdan while she attended her court case earlier this year. Magdan, like Safak, was prosecuted for her writings. In the last year, Article 301 has been used in 80 cases filed against writers and journalists. In all the cases they were filed not by the state but by individual nationalist lawyers.

Most of the cases have ended in acquittal and no one has been jailed. But the prosecutions have led to growing criticism by the European Union - making it a sensitive issue because Turkey is seeking to join the EU. Earlier this month a European Parliament report sharply criticised Turkey. Joost Lagendijk (see photo) the head of the European Parliamentary committee on Turkey and a Dutch MEP says the country has to change its ways. "The best thing would be for the government to take an initiative and bring forward the change in the penal code to parliament and delete the whole article. But they say, look at the end result, there is an acquittal in most cases, so there is an ongoing debate. But I am trying to convince them. There are a still a lot of cases and new cases are opened."

Later this month the Turkish parliament is due to be recalled early from summer recess to pass EU reforms. But changing Article 301 is not a priority, according to EU membership minister Ali Babacan. He says Brussels should be patient. "We strongly believe that this will be resolved in time but it is not easy, because the political reforms are easier to do on paper. It is sometimes easier to just pass the law through the parliament, do the constitutional amendments. But also it is a reform in the mentality, it is cultural change that we have to go through which is naturally taking time."

But Elif Safak doesn't have time on her side. She has to stand trial. In a sad twist of fate, she is due to give birth on the very day she's due in court. But she says if she can, she will attend the hearing. Tough day Safak is now bracing herself for what she expects to be a tough day. "The worst thing about this trial is not the actual trial itself but the jingoist, the nationalist discourse surrounding it. As you walk inside the courtroom, people are waiting outside chanting slogans, using verbal and physical violence. Those things are very unnerving and those are things that makes one feel lonely and vulnerable and that is the part that hurts most."

The prosecution of Safak will be another blow to Turkey's record on human rights. There is growing concern in Brussels that Ankara has lost its appetite for reform. With every new prosecution questions are likely to continue to grow over whether EU membership talks can continue with Turkey.

She has been acquitted:

Top novelist acquitted in Turkey

Elif Shafak hoped her novel would encourage empathy

A court in Istanbul has acquitted the best-selling Turkish novelist, Elif Safak, who had been accused of insulting "Turkishness". Ms Safak, 35, had faced charges for comments made by her characters on the mass killings of Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire in 1915. Turkey rejects Armenia's claim that the killings constituted "genocide". The court in Istanbul had been under pressure from the EU to find Ms Safak not guilty, a BBC correspondent says.

PBS ran a documentary on the Armenian genocide and Turkey's efforts to deny that this genocide ever happened. It was excellent. A Turkish editor & his wife's business were fire-bombed for publishing a book on the subject of the Armenian genocide -- they eventually had to leave Turkey and come to the West because their lives were in danger.

I did notice that the production was funded entirely by US Armenians.

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