Ragıp Zarakolu (born 1948) is a Turkish human rights activist and publisher who has long faced legal harassment for publishing books on controversial subjects 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 ...

, especially on minority and

human rights in Turkey Human rights in Turkey are protected by a variety of international law treaties, which take precedence over Legal system of the Republic of Turkey, domestic legislation, according to Article 90 of the 1982 Constitution of Turkey, Constitution. ...

Biography

Ragıp Zarakolu was born in 1948 on

Büyükada Büyükada (, rendered ''Prinkipos'' or ''Prinkipo''), meaning "Big Island" in Turkish, is the largest of the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara, near Istanbul, with an area of about . It is made up of the Maden and Nizam neighbourhoods in ...

close to

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. At that time his father, Remzi Zarakolu, was the district governor on that island. Ragıp Zarakolu grew up with members of the Greek and Armenian minority in Turkey. In 1968 he began writing for ''

Ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

'' and ''Yeni Ufuklar'' magazines. In 1971 a military junta assumed power in Turkey. Ragıp Zarakolu was tried on charges of secret relations to

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 ...

. He spent five months in prison, before the charges were dropped. In 1972 Ragıp Zarakolu was sentenced to 2 years' imprisonment for his article in the journal ''

'' (Pledge) on

Ho Chi Minh (born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), colloquially known as Uncle Ho () among other aliases and sobriquets, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first President of Vietnam, president of the ...

and the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. He stayed in Selimiye Prison (Istanbul) and was released in 1974 following a general amnesty.Başlangıç, Celal
Her zaman 'suç' işliyor
, ''

Radikal ''Radikal'' () was a daily liberal Turkish language newspaper, published in Istanbul. From 1996 it was published by Aydın Doğan's Doğan Media Group. Although Radikal did not endorse a particular political alignment, it was generally consider ...

'', 17 January 2005 On his release Zarakolu refused to abandon his campaign for freedom of thought, striving for an "attitude of respect for different thoughts and cultures to become widespread in Turkey". The Belge Publishing House, established in Istanbul in 1977 by Zarakolu and his wife Ayşenur, has been a focus for Turkish censorship laws ever since. Charges brought against the couple resulted in imprisonment for both Ayşenur and Ragıp Zarakolu, the wholesale confiscation and destruction of books and the imposition of heavy fines. In 1979 Ragıp Zarakolu was one of the founders of the daily newspaper ''Demokrat'' and took responsibility for the news desk on foreign affairs. The paper was banned with the military coup of 12 September 1980 and Ragıp Zarakolu was shortly imprisoned in 1982 in connection with this position in ''Demokrat''. He was banned from leaving the country between 1971 and 1991. In 1986 he became one of 98 founders of the Human Rights Association of Turkey (HRA or in Turkish IHD). For some time Ragıp Zarakolu chaired the Writers in Prison Committee of

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

in Turkey. Currently (beginning of 2007) he chairs the Committee for Freedom of Publication in the Union of Publishers. Until the military coup of 12 September 1980 ''Belge'' Publishing House mostly published academic and theoretical books. Afterwards ''Belge'' started to publish a series of books written by political prisoners. The series of 35 books consisted of poems, shorts stories, novels. The list of publications (see a list of selected publications below) include more than 10 books (translations) of

Greek literature Greek literature () dates back from the ancient Greek literature, beginning in 800 BC, to the modern Greek literature of today. Ancient Greek literature was written in an Ancient Greek dialect, literature ranges from the oldest surviving wri ...

, 10 books on the

Armenian Question The Armenian question was the debate following the Congress of Berlin in 1878 as to how the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire should be treated. The term became commonplace among diplomatic circles and in the popular press. In specific terms, the ...

and five books related to the

Jews in Turkey The history of the Jews in Turkey ( or ; ; () covers the 2400 years that Jews have lived in what is now Turkey. There have been Jewish communities in Anatolia since at least the beginning of the common era. Anatolia's Jewish population befo ...

. There are also a number of books dealing with the

Kurds in Turkey The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Turkey. According to various estimates, they compose between 15% and 20% of the population of Turkey.; ; Sandra Mackey , "The reckoning: Iraq and the legacy of Saddam", W.W. Norton and Company, 200 ...

. He also has published several books on the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...

, such a
George Jerjian
s
The Truth Will Set Us Free: Armenians and Turks Reconciled
' and Professor Dora Sakayan's ''An Armenian Doctor in Turkey: Garabed Hatcherian: My Smyrna Ordeal of 1922'' — which brought new criminal charges in 2005. In November 2007 Zarakolu published David Gaunt's book ''Massacres, resistance, protectors'' about the

Assyrian genocide The Sayfo (, ), also known as the Seyfo or the Assyrian genocide, was the mass murder and deportation of Assyrian/Syriac Christians in southeastern Anatolia and Persia's Azerbaijan province by Ottoman forces and some Kurdish tribes during ...

in Turkish (''Katliamlar, Direniş, Koruyucular''). In 1995 the Belge Publishing House offices were firebombed by a far right group, forcing it to be housed in a cellar. Since his wife's death in 2002, Zarakolu continued to face further prosecutions. In May 2017 the Belge Publishing House was raided by police who said they had orders to seize all copies of the book ''Stateless Kurds and Decisions Tougher than Death''. Police also seized hundreds of books published in the 1980s and 1990s, despite having no orders to do so. Ragıp Zarakolu is also related to University of Cambridge Professor Ayşe Zarakol.

Trials

Recent court cases against Ragıp Zarakolu and ''Belge'' Publishing House (until her death Ayşenur Zarakolu stood trial instead of him) include:English PEN, Ragip Zarakolu

2002

On 21 March Istanbul State Security Court (SSC) No. 1 heard the case of Ayşenur Zarakolu on charges of having disseminated separatist propaganda by publishing a book by Hüseyin Turhallı, former chairman of the Democracy Party ( DEP) for Diyarbakır province, entitled ''Songs of Freedom''. During the hearing her husband Ragıp Zarakolu stated that this would have been the 34th court case against his wife, if she had been alive. On 4 June Istanbul SSC dropped the charges against her after establishing that Hüseyin Turhallı was living in France and Ayşenur Zarakolu had died in January.

2003

On 3 December Istanbul SSC acquitted Ragıp Zarakolu from charges under Article 312 TPC. The trial had been opened for his translation of the book ''The Regime of 12 September on Trial'', written by Dr. Gazi Çağlar from Hannover University.

2004

On 10 September, Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No. 14 (former Istanbul SSC No. 4) concluded the case launched against publisher Ragıp Zarakolu, owner of the newspaper '' Ülkede Özgür Gündem'' (Free Agenda in the Country), Ali Çelik Kasimogullari and editor-in-chief of the newspaper '' Mehmet Çolak'' in connection with an article titled ''Sana Ne'' (What’s that to you) that was published on 8 March 2003. The court sentenced Kasimogullari to a fine of TL 3.3 billion and Mehmet Çolak to 6 months’ imprisonment and a fine of TL 1.65 billion under Article 7/2 of the LFT (making propaganda for an illegal organization). Çolak’s sentence was commuted to a total fine of TL 3.73 billion. Zarakolu’s file was separated due to legal change made regarding Article 312 TPC. He was to be tried at a Penal Court. Beyoglu Penal Court No. 2 heard the case on 2 March 2005 and adjourned the hearing to 12 May. Further hearings were held on 21 September and 11 October 2005. Result unknown.

Article 301

Ragıp Zarakolu was indicted for the Turkish translation of Professor Dora Sakayan's book entitled ''An Armenian Doctor in Turkey. G. Hatcherian: My Smyrna Ordeal of 1922''.International PEN calls for an end to publisher Ragip Zarakolu's trials
- IFEX According to the indictment, Zarakolu was to be sentenced following Article 301 new TPC (Article 159 of the former TPC). The first hearing was set for 21 September at Istanbul Penal Court No 2. On 20 September Istanbul Penal Court No 2 continued to hear the case against Ragıp Zarakolu, owner of Belge Publishing House, in connection with the book about the Armenian genocide entitled ''The Truth Will Set Us Free'' written by the British writer George Jerjian. The hearing was adjourned to 22 November for investigation of the expert report. The charges related to Article 301 new TPC (of June 2005). The latest two cases were combined and further hearings were held on 21 November and 15 February, 19 April, 21 June and 14 December 2006. The next hearing was scheduled for 15 March 2007. In June 2008, Zarakolu was found guilty of "insulting the institutions of the Turkish Republic" under Article 301 of the Turkish penal code for translating and publishing Jerjian's book. The judge sentenced him to five months in prison. However, the judge, citing Zarakolu's "good behavior", stated that the author may avoid imprisonment by paying a fine.

KCK case

He was taken into custody on October 28, 2011 within the framework of the KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) operation. In February 2012 Zarakolu was nominated for the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

by members of the Swedish Parliament. He was released on April 10, 2012. In 2013, Zarakolu moved to Sweden. In 2020, the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

ruled that his imprisonment violated his right to liberty and freedom of expression, ordering Turkey to pay him

EUR The euro (symbol: €; currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the euro area or, more commonly, the eurozone. The euro is divided into 10 ...

6,500 in non-pecuniary damages.

Awards for Ragıp and Ayşenur Zarakolu

Ragıp Zarakolu was given the NOVIB/PEN Free Expression Award in 2003. In October 1998 Ayşenur Zarakolu was honoured by the

International Publishers Association The International Publishers Association (IPA, originally Congrès international des éditeurs) is an international publishing industry federation of national publisher associations representing book and journal publishing, founded in 1896 in Pa ...

with the International Freedom to Publish Award. She could not attend the ceremony at

Frankfurt Book Fair The Frankfurt Book Fair (German: , FBM) is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. The five-day annual event in mid-October is held at the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds in Frankfurt am ...

since her passport had been confiscated. In September 2008, the same organization awarded Ragıp Zarakolu the 2008 IPA Freedom to Publish Prize (now known as the IPA Prix Voltaire) to "

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a message to the Turkish authorities that domestic legislation must be further amended to meet international freedom of expression standards". In March 2012 the Assyrian Culture Centre in

Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, granted the Assyrian Cultural Award to Ragıp Zarakolu, then in prison, for being an advocate for human and minority rights in Turkey and Europe.

References

The daily and annual reports of the

Human Rights Foundation of Turkey The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey ( HRFT; , TİHV) is headquartered in Ankara. The organization is committed to treating torture survivors and documenting human rights violations in daily bulletins, monthly and annual special reports in Turkish ...

(HRFT) with a focus on human rights abuses in Turkey were used to put the information on Ragıp Zarakolu#Trials and Awards together.

External links

Articles published by Ragıp Zarakolu

English PEN, Ragip Zarakolu

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zarakolu, Ragip 1948 births Living people Turkish publishers (people) Turkish journalists Turkish prisoners and detainees Turkish human rights activists Turkish expatriates in Sweden Turkish refugees