Nobel laureates pen an open letter to the Turkish president, calling for the acquittal of writers sentenced to life in prison
A group of thirty-eight Nobel laureates, including JM Coetzee, Wole Soyinka, Svetlana Alexievich, Mario Vargas Llosa, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Elfriede Jelinek have signed an open letter to Turkish President Recep… Read more »
Aslı Erdoğan has been freed by Turkey, which remains a terrible country for writers
The government of Turkey has lifted a travel ban imposed on novelist, journalist, and human rights activist Aslı Erdoğan. We’ve covered Erdoğan (no relation Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan) since 2016’s failed coup. The author was initially arrested in an August… Read more »
Turkish novelist Ahmet Altan, held incommunicado on charges of “giving subliminal messages in favor of a coup on television,” manages to publish an essay on the eve of his trial
Over the past few years, we’ve had all too much occasion to write about Turkey’s ongoing crackdown against journalists, publishers, and writers of all kinds, which has spiked in intensity since 2016’s… Read more »
Turkish magazine shuttered over photo of anti-Erdoğan grafitti
Even the mildest story about cats won’t escape the censors in Turkey right now. For months, we’ve been covering President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ever-expanding crackdown on Turkish journalists and publishers, instigated in response to the attempted coup last summer. The… Read more »
Coalition of writers sends letter to colleagues imprisoned in Turkey
A coalition of 150 writers, including Nobel laureates, former prisoners of conscience, and and many more, has sent a letter of support to colleagues imprisoned in Turkey via PEN International. Turkey, as… Read more »
Germany drops charges against comedian for poem full of Turkey jive
You know it’s a weird year for planet Earth when the words “German” and “comedy” keep cropping up in the same sentence. But a weird year it is, and crop up… Read more »
Publisher, librarian, writer, and bookseller organizations urge Obama: tell Erdoğan to leave Turkish media alone
The Turkish government shows no sign of relenting in the media crackdown it initiated this summer after an attempted coup failed to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, but American publishers, librarians,… Read more »
Turkey’s treatment of novelist Aslı Erdoğan is causing her “permanent damage”
One of Turkey’s most prominent writers is currently in police custody, where she says she is being treated “in a way that will leave permanent damage on my body.” Over the… Read more »
International publishers are “deeply concerned” over closure of Turkish publishing houses
Earlier this month, we reported on a media shutdown in Turkey following the country’s failed military coup, which, according to a report from PEN International, resulted in the forced closure of… Read more »
Journalists arrested and publishers shuttered in Turkey
Something is rotten in the state of Turkey. Two weeks ago, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared a three-month state of emergency in order to investigate criminal conduct during that… Read more »