Akif Pirinçci
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Akif Pirinçci (; born 20 October 1959) is a Turkish-born German writer who is best known internationally for his novel ''
Felidae Felidae () is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a felid (). The term "cat" refers both to felids in general and specifically to the ...
''.


Biography

Pirinçci was born on 20 October 1959 in
Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
, Turkey, but emigrated to Germany together with his parents in 1969. He began to write fiction at a young age, and published his first novel ''Tränen sind immer das Ende'' ("tears are always the end") in 1980, at the age of 21. His next literary work, published in 1989, was the novel ''
Felidae Felidae () is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a felid (). The term "cat" refers both to felids in general and specifically to the ...
'', a work of crime fiction with cats as the main protagonists. The novel has been translated into 17 languages and became an international bestseller. Due to the success of the novel, Pirinçci expanded his concept of "''cat
crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...
''" and published several sequels to ''Felidae'', out of which ''Felidae II'' and ''Felidae V (Salve Roma!)'' have been translated into English. An
animated movie Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
based on ''Felidae'', the script of which had been co-written by Pirinçci, was produced in Germany in 1994, and was also dubbed in English. Pirinçci has published several other novels which were not set in the fictional world of the ''Felidae'' series – however, none of those works have reached such a high degree of popularity. Lately, however, he had some success with the thriller "The Back Door", which was adapted for the screen in Germany, with
Mads Mikkelsen Mads Dittmann Mikkelsen, (; born 22 November 1965) is a Danish actor. Originally a gymnast and dancer, he rose to fame in Denmark as an actor for his roles such as Tonny in the first two films of the ''Pusher'' film trilogy (1996, 2004), Det ...
in the leading role. "The Back Door" is the only standalone novel of Pirinçci's that has been translated into English. Pirinçci currently lives in
Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
in Germany.


Controversies


Political essays

Pirinçci published non-fiction essays in 2012 on Facebook, and in right-wing newspapers such as ''
Junge Freiheit The ''Junge Freiheit'' (JF, "Young Freedom") is a German weekly newspaper on politics and culture that was established in 1986. It has been described as conservative, right-wing, nationalistic and as the "ideological supply ship of right-wing pop ...
'', ''eigentümlich frei'', and ''Sezession''. Pirinçci's essays were collected in the two books ''Deutschland von Sinnen - Der irre Kult um Frauen, Homosexuelle und Zuwanderer'' (2014, "Germany Gone Mad: The Crazy Cult Around Women, Homosexuals, and Immigrants"), which soon became a
bestseller A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cookb ...
, and ''Die große Verschwulung – Wenn aus Männern Frauen werden und aus Frauen keine Männer'' (2015, "The Big Gayification: When men become women and women won't become men"), both published by the retail company
Manufactum Manufactum GmbH & Co. KG (formerly ''Manufactum Hoof & Partner KG'') is a German retailer with nine full-sized stores in Germany and an online store that serves primarily Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the UK. The main focus of the company ar ...
, as part of ''Edition Sonderweg'' edited by André F. Lichtschlag, the publisher and editor-in-chief of ''eigentümlich frei'' and a writer for ''Junge Freiheit''. His statements on feminism and opposition to immigration have provoked controversy in Germany and throughout Europe.


Relationship with right-wing organisations

While writing and publishing these non-fiction essays, Pirinçci also increasingly came in contact with functionaries of the anti-Islamic movement Pegida, the right-wing populist party
Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (german: link=no, Alternative für Deutschland, AfD; ) is a right-wing populist * * * * * * * political party in Germany. AfD is known for its opposition to the European Union, as well as immigration to Germany. I ...
, and the small right-wing
German Freedom Party Freedom – Civil Rights Party for More Freedom and Democracy (''Die Freiheit – Bürgerrechtspartei für mehr Freiheit und Demokratie''), also known as The Freedom (german: Die Freiheit), was a political party in Germany which identified as co ...
, who organized lecture tours where Pirinçci would read from his two political essay books. When he faced criticism in May 2014, he justified these contacts by telling the online blog of the newspaper ''
Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The ...
'' "I don't give a flying fuck if people call me a Nazi, I don't give a damn." (''"Es geht mir am Arsch vorbei, wenn man mich einen Nazi nennt, das ist mir scheißegal"'').


Defamation suit

On 20 January 2015, the local paper
General-Anzeiger The ''General-Anzeiger'' is a regional daily newspaper based in the city of Bonn, the former West German capital in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The paper was first published in April 1888. In addition to the city and it ...
reported that Pirinçci had been found liable for defamation in a civil suit brought by a professor of sociology and biology, whom Pirinçci had described as a "mentally sick, manic queer with a screw loose" (''"geisteskranken, durchgeknallten Schwulen mit Dachschaden"''). Pirinçci had also described the professor's theories as a "jewel of stupidity" (''"Juwel der Doofheit"'').


19 October 2015 Pegida speech

At the first anniversary of the Pegida protests in Dresden on 19 October 2015, Pirinçci was invited as keynote speaker. He accused German politicians of being "
Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a ''Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany, Gau'' or ''Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party, rank in ...
against their own people" and called Germany's government a "shit state" (''"Scheißstaat"''). Further, according to Pirinçci, Muslims want to "pump infidels full of their Muslim juice" (''"Ungläubige mit ihrem Moslemsaft vollpumpen"'') and stated that Germany is becoming a "Muslim garbage dump" (''"Moslemmüllhalde"''). He called the
German Green Party Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (fo ...
a "Party of child fuckers" (''"Kinderfickerpartei"''), and the spokesperson for the mosque in
Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...
a "Muslim guy with a
Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
beard" (''"Moslemfritzen mit Talibanbart"''), who had as much to do with German culture as "my asshole with the production of perfume" (''"wie mein Arschloch mit Parfümherstellung"''). However, the most-widely spread quote from Pirinçci's 19 October speech was, "Unfortunately, the concentration camps are out of order at the moment!" (''"Aber die KZs sind ja leider derzeit außer Betrieb!"''), which was met with applause from the crowd. In a wider context, Pirinçci's concentration camps statement was intended to accuse critics of Pegida of intending to send Pegida members to said concentration camps.Stefan Niggemeie
Akif Pirinçcis Pegida-Rede: Eine Geschichte von Fehlern, Exzessen und Scheinheiligkeit
In: faz.net vom 2. November 2015.
Pirinçci's remarks were apparently deemed too offensive by the crowd, and was booed off the stage. Within 24 hours after first quotes from Pirinçci's Pegida speech appeared in the media, his publishers
Goldmann Goldmann is the surname of several people: * Erich Goldmann, German ice hockey player * Friedrich Goldmann (1941–2009), German composer and conductor * Hans Goldmann (1899–1991), Swiss ophthalmologist * Lucien Goldmann, French philosopher and so ...
and
Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
issued statements that they had cancelled their contracts with Pirinçci and would no longer sell any of his books, and the webmaster to his online blog also cancelled Pirinçci's contract. At the same time,
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
Germany chose to de-list his books so they can't be found through searches or ordered through the website. A few days later, all relevant book wholesalers in Germany (Libri, Umbreit, and KNV) also stopped ordering his books, and many independent bookstores issued statements that they would refuse to order his books, even upon request. This reaction by bookstores was criticized by columnist Jan Fleischhauer in Der Spiegel as amounting to authoritarian censorship. Volker Beck, member of parliament for the German Green Party, filed charges against Pirinçci for public incitement to commit criminal acts and
incitement to hatred Hate speech is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation". Hate speech is "usually thoug ...
. A spokesperson for the federal prosecutor's office confirmed that an investigation is ongoing. Two weeks after his Pegida speech, Pirinçci told ''
Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'' that the boycott of all his books overnight (except for the two political essay collections at Manufactum) as well as his public notoriety resulting from the affair made him seriously consider emigration.Fleischhauer, Jan (2015). ''Der Aussätzige'', DER SPIEGEL, No 46, 7 November 2015, pp. 40-43


List of literary works

* ''Tränen sind immer das Ende'' (1980) * ''Der Rumpf'' (literally meaning "the torso") (1992) * ''Yin'' (1997) * ''The Back Door'' (German: ''Die Damalstür'') (2001) * ''Der letzte Weltuntergang: Krimi-Erzählungen'' ("The Final Apocalypse") (2007) * ''Volltreffer'' (2011), written under the pseudonym Cedric Arnold


Felidae

# ''
Felidae Felidae () is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a felid (). The term "cat" refers both to felids in general and specifically to the ...
'' (German: ''Felidae'') (1989) # ''Felidae II'' aka ''Felidae on the Road'' (German: ''Francis. Felidae II'') (1993) # ''Cave Canem'' (1999) # ''Das Duell'' ("the duel") (2002) # ''Salve Roma!'' (2004) # ''Schandtat'' (2007) # ''Felipolis'' (2010) # ''Göttergleich'' (2014) ''
Felidae Felidae () is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a felid (). The term "cat" refers both to felids in general and specifically to the ...
'' animated movie (script) (1994)


List of non-fiction works

* ''Cat Sense'' (2011) * ''Deutschland von Sinnen: Der irre Kult um Frauen, Homosexuelle und Zuwanderer (2014)'' (Germany Gone Mad: The Crazy Cult around Women, Homosexuals and Immigrants)


Further reading

*


References


External links


Akif Pirinçci's Official Web Site

Akif Pirinçci's Old Web Site
(no longer operating as per 20 October 2015)

in:
NRW Literatur im Netz NRW Literatur im Netz is a German internet database with short biographies of persons who have lived or worked in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Westphälische Literaturbüro (Westphalian office for literature) in Unna operates the biggest database ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pirincci, Akif 1959 births Writers from Bonn Turkish emigrants to West Germany German crime fiction writers German fantasy writers German screenwriters German male screenwriters Living people German male novelists German critics of Islam Anti-immigration politics in Germany Counter-jihad activists Former Muslim critics of Islam German former Muslims Male critics of feminism People from Mayen-Koblenz Writers from Istanbul