Dear Prime Minister,
We at the English Centre of PEN, the international association of writers, and other academics and writers in the UK, wish to protest most strongly at the recent persecution of Ömer Asan, which stems directly from false and slanderous accusations about his book, PONTUS KÜLTÜRÜ, published in Istanbul in 1996.
The book is an account of the history and culture of the region known as Pontus.
Ömer Asan has repeatedly been accused of being a traitor on a TV Programme broadcast live on Saturday nights on ATV channel and hosted by Hulki Cevizoglu. On the same programme on 12 January 2002, Asan was accused Of working not only for the Greeks but also for the Kurdish PKK party, which is banned in Turkey.
On 21 January as a result of the accusations made on these TV programmes, the State Security Court ordered all copies of Asan's book to be withdrawn from sale. Asan and his publisher then received a summons to appear before the State Security Court in Istanbul to discuss the accusations The hearing, which took place on 25 January resulted in the case being referred to a civil court, where Asan and his publisher are to be tried. We understand no date has yet been fixed for the trial and the charges against them have not yet been specified.
We urge you to do all in your power to ensure that any charges arising from the contents of the book against Asan and his publisher be dropped and for the ban on his book to be lifted. We welcome the fact that the Turkish government is in the process of adjusting the law in order to enhance democratisation through the freedom of the press and speech and hope that this will ensure writers such as Asan their right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights to which Turkey is a signatory.
Yours sincerely
Victoria Glendinning CBE, President, English centre of International ,PEN
Joan Smith FRSA, Chair, Writers in Prison Committee English PEN and
Chris Abani
Lisa Appignanesi
Max Arthur
Louis Baum
Sybille Bedford OBE
Penelope Bennett
Lady Rachel Billington
Terence Blacker
Alain de Botton
Rosie Boycott
William Boyd
Celia Brayfield
Dame A.S. Byatt CBE
Stephanie Calman
Robert Chandler
Mavis Cheek
Tom Cheeseman
Eric Clark
Sally Cline
Marika Cobbold
Geoffrey Cotterill
John Coutts
Jan Dalley
Peter Day
Emma Dinoulis
Siobhan Dowd
Margaret Drabble CBE
Richard Eyre
Ruth Fainlight
Blain Fairman
Moris Farhi MBE
Eleanor Fein
Leonid Finkelstein
Claire Frankel
Lady Antonia Fraser CBE
Harris Freedman
Maureen Freely
Vivian French
Rosemary Friedman
Jonathan Fryer
Carlo Gebler
Griselda Gifford
Lyndall Gordon
Andrew Graham Yooll OBE
Lee Hall
Harriet Harvey-Wood
Diana Hendry
David Holman
Michael Holroyd CBE
Liu Hongbin
Justine Hardy
Dr Ismail Kaygusuz
Charlotte Kell
Donald Kenrick
Angela Kirby
Angela Lambert
Lee Langley
Joanne Leedom-Ackerman
Piers Letcher
David Lodge
Isabel Losada
Dawn Lowe-Watson
Thomas McCarthy
Giles MacDonogh
Ian McEwan
Richard McKane
Marilyn Malin
Nouritza Matossian
John Man
Annabel Markov
Jane Mays
Deborah Moggach
Blake Morrison
Beverley Naidoo
Alastair Niven
Susie Orbach
Ewald Osers
Peter Parker
Hella Pick
Harold Pinter CBE
Alan Plater
Ravinder Randhawa
Fernando Rebelo
Sarah Sceats
Lawrence Scott
Anne Sebba
Miranda Seymour
Carole Seymour-Jones
Robert Shepherd
Gillian Slovo
Colin Spencer
Sir Tom Stoppard
Barry Unsworth
L.E. Usher
Marina Warner
Timberlake Wertenbaker
Arnold Wesker