Pınar Selek (born October 8, 1971) is a Turkish sociologist,

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

, and author.Kerem Öktem (September 15, 2008)
"Another Struggle: Sexual Identity Politics in Unsettled Turkey"
. ''Middle East Research and Information Project''. Retrieved January 26, 2013. She is known for her work on the rights of vulnerable communities in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, including women, the poor, street children, sexual minorities, and

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

communities, and for the ensuing political persecution. She is the author of several books published in Turkish, German, and French, and is one of the founding editors of ''Amargi'', a Turkish feminist journal. She currently resides in France where she obtained academic exile in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

then

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionPAUSE program
She later obtained a permanent assistant professor position in sociology at Université Côte d'Azur, with th
Migrations and Society Research Unit
She became a French citizen in 2017. Selek has been prosecuted since 1998 in Turkey, in an affair which has attempted to tie her to an explosion that occurred at the

Spice Bazaar, Istanbul The Spice Bazaar (, meaning "Egyptian Bazaar") in Istanbul, Turkey, is one of the largest bazaars in the city. Located in the Eminönü quarter of the Fatih district, it is the most famous covered shopping complex after the Grand Bazaar. Histor ...

in 1998, despite police and expert reports showing that the explosion was caused by a gas leak. Tried and acquitted of all charges on four occasions (in 2006, 2008, 2011, 2014), her most recent acquittal was amended on June 21, 2022, by the Supreme Court of Turkey which reversed the court decision and sentenced her to life in prison before a retrial. The retrial was set for March 31, 2023 then pushed back to September 29, 2023, then to June 28, 2024. She became an "ambassador" fo
Prison Insider
an information platform on conditions of detention around the world, in 2024.

Education

Selek attended the high school

Lycée Notre Dame de Sion Istanbul Lycée Notre Dame de Sion Istanbul () is a French private high school located in the Harbiye, Şişli neighbourhood of Istanbul, Turkey. It was founded in 1856. The high school was established in the Ottoman Empire as a missionary school for gir ...

and completed her undergraduate and graduate studies in the sociology department at

Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University (, or MSGSÜ) is a public art university in Istanbul, Turkey. The university's campus is located in the Fındıklı, Beyoğlu. The university was established in 1882 under the leadership of Osman Hamdi Bey. Hi ...

. In 2014 she obtained a doctorate in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

from the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during ...

Arrest, imprisonment, and release, 1998–2000

Pınar Selek was arrested on July 11, 1998, in connection to an explosion that had occurred two days prior at the

, which had killed seven people and wounded approximately 100 others.Baran Mavzer (January 27, 2013)
"Pınar Selek Issued a Life Sentence after 15 Year Trial"''Global Voices''
Retrieved January 27, 2013. The arrest is widely considered to have been motivated by her contact with Kurds as part of her academic research. Her work was confiscated, and she refused to name the individuals she had interviewed during the course of her research. Another suspect, Abdülmecit Öztürk, was arrested two weeks after Selek, and confessed to police that the two had carried out the bombing together, although he later recanted his statement and claimed that he had been tortured in police custody.International Federation for Human Rights
(January 25, 2013)
"TURKEY: Outrage following the conviction of Pinar Selek to life imprisonment"
Paris-Geneva. Retrieved January 25, 2013. Öztürk was later acquitted of all charges, and his statement against Selek was ruled as inadmissible. After spending two and a half years in prison, during which time she was subject to torture and ill-treatment, Selek was released on December 22, 2000, when a team of experts, including faculty from

Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

's Analytic Chemistry Department and Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty's Forensic Department,"Sociologist Pinar Selek sentenced lifetime prison for bombing claims"''National Turk''
Retrieved January 25, 2013. issued reports concluding that the explosion had been caused by the accidental ignition of a gas cylinder.PEN International
(December 12, 2012)
"News: TURKEY – PEN International Concerned About Pinar Selek Trial"
. Retrieved January 25, 2013."Turkish sociologist sentenced to life for 'terrorism'"
Istanbul
''FOCUS Information Agency''
Retrieved January 25, 2013. Three expert witnesses assigned by the court also testified that the explosion was caused by a gas leak.

Acquittals, retrial, and sentencing, 2006–present

The Istanbul High Criminal Court No. 12 acquitted Selek of wrongdoing on four occasions (in 2006, 2008, 2011, 2014), citing a lack of any evidence linking her to the blast. Nonetheless, the court decided on November 22, 2012, to amend its own prior acquittal decisions and reopen her trial, a move which her defense lawyers labeled as "unprecedented in Turkish legal history."International Federation for Human Rights
(November 27, 2012)
"TURKEY: Judicial harassment of Pinar Selek continues as Istanbul Heavy Penal Court decides to amend her acquittal and request her conviction"
Retrieved January 25, 2013. On January 24, 2013, after just over an hour of deliberation, the court sentenced her to life in prison for the 1998 spice bazaar bombing. The decision was reached by majority of two to one, with the head judge in the case issuing a dissenting opinion. While Selek was tried in absentia, more than 30 nongovernmental organizations and political party representatives from France, Germany, Italy, and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

attended the hearings, and nearly 150 people protested during the trial. Four observers from the

, including the vice rector, also attended the trial. After a fourth acquittal on December 19, 2014, the Supreme Court of Turkey reversed the acquittal on June 21, 2022, immediately sentencing Pinar Selek to life in prison. The retrial was set for March 31, 2023, and was attended by a delegation of a hundred lawyers, politicians, academics and representatives of non-governmental organizations, from France, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Norway and Turkey. After the hearing - in which lawyers contested the illegal procedure of the Supreme Court cancelling an acquittal and emitting a new sentence without new evidence or trial - a new trial date was set for September 29, 2023. In similar circumstances with similar international support, this and the consecutive hearings resulted in postponements : for June 28, 2024, and then for February 7, 2025.

Support from academic institutions and international organizations

Numerous international organizations have voiced solidarity with Selek, including

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

, the Human Rights League and th
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Th
Commissioner for Human Rights of the European Council
and the

World Organisation Against Torture The World Organisation Against Torture (''Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture''; OMCT) is the world's largest coalition of non-governmental organisations fighting against arbitrary detention, torture, summary and extrajudicial execution ...

(OMCT) have called on Turkish authorities to end the 14-year "judicial harassment" of Selek, as this seems " to merely aim at sanctioning her for her legitimate exercise of the freedom of opinion and expression."

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

has called her prosecution a "perversion of the criminal justice system and abuse of due process," and insisted that the "baseless charges should be dropped once and for all."

PEN International PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide professional association, association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association ...

has expressed outrage and concern and argued that the judicial campaign against Selek seeks to penalize her for her "long standing support for and work on minority groups in Turkey." The Transnational Work Group on Academic Liberty and Freedom of Research in Turkey has also issued a statement of solidarity. Turkish journalist

Cengiz Çandar Cengiz Çandar (born 1948) is a Turkish politician, journalist, senior columnist, and a Middle East expert. He is elected to the Turkish Parliament (TBMM) in May 2023, as Deputy of Diyarbakır from the pro-Kurdish, the Peoples’ Equality and De ...

called the January 2013 ruling a "travesty" and a "disgraceful judgment." Multiple academic organizations have also issued statements of support. The

Middle East Studies Association of North America Middle East Studies Association (often referred to as MESA) is a learned society, and according to its website, "a non-profit association that fosters the study of the Middle East, promotes high standards of scholarship and teaching, and enco ...

(MESA) has expressed its support for Selek and dismay at the prolonged denial of justice she has been subject to. In a letter addressed to Turkish Prime Minister

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

, MESA's Committee on Academic Freedom asserted that: "all of the circumstances attendant to her case suggest that Selek has been on trial for the last fourteen years for her research on the PKK in violation of her right to academic freedom." Th
French Sociological Association
has issued statements of support spanning a decade, while other supporting scientific organizations include the French Association des sociologues enseignants du supérieur (ASES), the French Political Science Association, or the

Committee of Concerned Scientists The Committee of Concerned Scientists (CCS) is an independent international organization devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom of scientists, physicians, engineers, and scholars. History The Committee wa ...

, who have condemned the "lack of due process and free expression for academics". Alain Beretz, president of the

, has espoused the university's solidarity with Selek, calling her life imprisonment conviction "unjust and revolting.
Université Côte d'Azur
has publicly stated its "unwavering support" for Selek and the values and academic freedoms her case represents. A collective of academics from France have called her sentencing an attack on the independence of social sciences. International public figures such as Angela Davis have publicly supported Pinar Selek. At press conferences following each verdict, Selek has vowed to continue her fight for justice.

Publications

In 1996 she translated Ya Basta into Turkish. It is a collection of letters from the leader of the

Zapatistas Zapatista(s) may refer to: * Liberation Army of the South, a guerrilla force led by Emiliano Zapata in the Mexican Revolution 1911–1920 ** Zapatismo, the armed movement identified with the ideas of Emiliano Zapata * Zapatista Army of National L ...

Subcomandante Marcos Rafael Sebastián Guillén Vicente (born 19 June 1957) is a Mexican insurgent, the former military leader and spokesman for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) in the ongoing Chiapas conflict,Pasztor, S. B. (2004). "Marcos, Subcoman ...

. In 2001 ''Maskeler Süvariler Gacılar'' was published which focused on the lives of the trans community. She has also published five books and novels in French between 2012 and 2022, as well as two children's books. Recent publications includ
Le chaudron militaire turc
(2023), which analyzes the co-production of masculinity and nationalism through obligatory military service and institutionalised relations to violence.

References

External links

Pinar Selek website
(in Turkish)

Interview with Pinar Selek. {{DEFAULTSORT:Selek, Pinar 1971 births Living people Academics from Istanbul Turkish women academics Turkish dissidents Turkish sociologists Turkish women sociologists Turkish democracy activists Turkish human rights activists Turkish LGBTQ rights activists Turkish women's rights activists Turkish children's writers Writers from Istanbul Turkish expatriates in France University of Strasbourg alumni Trials in Turkey Turkish women children's writers Lycée Notre Dame de Sion Istanbul alumni French people of Turkish descent Naturalized citizens of France 20th-century Turkish women writers 21st-century Turkish women writers 20th-century Turkish writers 21st-century Turkish writers