Books from French Writer Reviewed by Prime Ministry

The Turkish judiciary has found a new authority to assess the quality of literature and to decide on obscene contents: the Prime Ministerial Board for the Protection of Children from Harmful Publications.

The Istanbul 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance decided to send the file related to three controversial books to the board that was established in 1927. The three books on subject are "The Fairy's Pendulum" by Ben Mila and the Turkish translations of French P.V.'s "Letters of a Well-Mannered and Knowledgeable Bourgeois Woman" and of "The exploits of a young Don Juan" by Guillaume Apolliniare.

Yet, experts from Yeditepe University (Istanbul), the Glatasaray University (Istanbul) French Language and Literature Department and from the Law Faculty issued a report regarding "The exploits of a young Don Juan" and "Letters of a Well-Mannered and Knowledgeable Bourgeois Woman" In the expert report it was said that the books feature literature and would not constitute the basis for a conviction.

Publisher: This board cannot review our books!

The owner of Sel Publishing, İrfan Sancı, is facing imprisonment of up to nine years for the three books on subject under allegations of spreading obscenity. In Tuesday's hearing (24 May), publisher Sancı claimed that the board is not entitled to review books for adults. However, the court did not accept his objection.

Sancı reminded the fact that Turkey was convicted by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) because of another book written by Apolliaire. The publisher emphasized that the ECHR had evaluated the books of Apollinaire as part of the world culture heritage.

Court followed prosecutor's demand

However, Public Prosecutor Atilla Ayvacı requested to send the file to the Prime Ministerial Board for the Protection of Children from Harmful Publications in order to determine whether the books contain obscenity and to obtain a referring report.

President Judge Yavuz Öztürk decided to request a report from the board and postponed the trial to 21 July. Interpreter İsmail Yerguz is facing a prison sentence of up to six years in the same trial.

The publisher's lawyer Adem Sakal had previously told bianet, "Writers, publishers and interpreters are still confronted with the threat of prison sentences because Turkey has not yet effected appropriate amendments in accordance with the legislation of the European Union".

Publishing - a felony?

In the indictment prepared on 29 April 2009, Public Prosecutor Nurten Altınok demanded prison sentence for the un-detained defendants according to article 226/2 of the Turkish Criminal Court.

The publishing house requested the books to be evaluated by Prof. Dr Nedret Öztokat, faculty member of the Istanbul University Language and Literature Department, and retired faculty member and author Prof. Dr Tahsin Yücel. Both experts had reported their views that literature could not be evaluated as a crime. (EÖ/VK)