May 21, 1993

Addressed to: President Suleyman Demirel, Minister of the Interior Mr Ismet Sezgin, Minister of the Justice Mr. Seyfi Oktay.

Your Excellences:i

On behalf of the 2500 writers who are members of PEN American Center, we write to express our deep dismay at the confiscation by the Istanbul Press Prosecutor of Ilhan Arsel's book Aydin ve 'Aydin' (Intellectuals and 'Intellectuals').

Published in December 1992 to praise by Mr Arsel's academic colleagues, this book is a scholarly examination of the importance of intellectuals within their own societies, comparing the Eastern and Western intellectual traditions.

The first edition sold out within three weeks of publication. The press prosecutor was said to have obtained from the Istanbul court a decree which found the book in violation of article 173 of the Turkish Criminal Code, prohibiting its publication of material that blasphemes Islam. We understand that he ordered the book's confiscation in February when the second edition appeared in bookstores. The Prosecutor's action apparently came after he submitted the text to a cleric at the Religious Affairs Department, who was said to have given the book an unfavorable review.

Mr. Arsel, who published a similarly contraversial book in 1988 entitled Seriat ve Kadin (Women and Islam) has been the target of a religious death sentence pronounced by Cemalettin Kaplan, a self-exiled Muslim cleric now living in Germany. According to newspaper reports, Mr. Kaplan has led demonstrations though German streets calling for Mr. Arsel's death for the publication of Seriat ve Kadin. In addition, we understand that a case brought against Mr. Arsel in 1988 by the Istanbul Public Prosecutor for his book Seriat ve Kadin is still pending.

As an international organization of writers of working to defend our colleagues' internationally-recognized right to freedom of expression, we are concerned about the confiscation of Mr. Arsel's book. We fear, firstly, that this pattern of court-ordered decrees and lawsuits work as mechanism to dissuade writers from publishing books critical of their own cultural heritage and political history. Secondly, we are disturbed by the Prosecutor's decision to submit Mr. Arsel's book to a cleric at the Religious Affairs Department, a step which seems inappropriate in a state governed by secular doctrines. In addition, while we are deeply troubled by the verdict(?) announced by Mr Kaplan in Germany, we are equally dismayed by the insufficient response of the Turkish Government, which has taken no steps to condemn this incitement of violence. We, therefore, respectfully urge the authorities to reconsider their confiscation of Mr. Arsel's book, Aydin ve 'Aydin, and urge that charges be dropped against Mr. Arsel in connection with his book, Seriat ve Kadin. We further call on your government to take every measure to uphold the free flow of ideas and information in your country and to exercise not only a spirit of tolerance toward peacefully-expressed criticism but also a willingness to show critical discourse to flourish independently of political and religious interferance or influence.

We thank you for your attention and we welcome your comments.

Sincerely,

Edmund Kesley, President

Faith Sale

Rose Styron, Co-chirs, Freedom-to-Write Committee