An Istanbul court acquitted Turkish novelist Asli Erdogan on Friday (February 14th) after a controversial trial for "terrorist activities", a case that has sparked international concern.
Court acquitted novelist of "attempting to undermine state integrity" and "belonging to a terrorist group", and ordered drop of charges for "terrorist propaganda", correspondent says of AFP.
This trial was widely followed by NGOs and foreign observers who saw it as a symbol of the authoritarian drift of Turkish power after an attempted coup aimed at President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in July 2016.
Author of several novels translated abroad, winner of the 2018 Simone de Beauvoir prize for women's freedom, Asli Erdogan was on trial for having contributed to the pro-Kurdish newspaper Ozgür Gündem, closed by decree in 2016.
The Turkish authorities accused Asli Erdogan of having helped, by collaborating with Ozgür Gündem, the Workers' Party of Kurdistan (PKK), a group described as "terrorist" by Ankara.
Absent at trial
The 52-year-old novelist, who no longer resides in Turkey but in Germany, was not present at the hearing on Friday.
Her mother, Mine Aydostlu, expressed surprise after the verdict was announced. "Believe me, I'm very happy. That's what I wanted, but I found it hard to believe. I had to ask several times if she had actually been acquitted," she said. to AFP.
"I ended up accepting it after hearing the word 'acquitted' nine or ten times!", She added with a broad smile.
>> Read also: Asli Erdogan at France 24: "In Turkey, the slightest tweet can lead to prison"
According to her lawyer, the novelist is undergoing medical treatment in Germany and could return to Turkey once it is completed.
"She is sick and cannot move around too much. She will not return to Turkey today, but she will return, of course, this is her country, her homeland," said her lawyer, Erdal Dogan.
In a text read by his lawyer at the hearing on Friday, Asli Erdogan estimated that accusing him on the basis of "literary texts is something that reason can hardly accept in the 21st century" and that it amounts to "trampling on values on which law and literature are based ".
She further stressed that the political character of her writings for Ozgür Gündem "was limited to [the denunciation of] human rights violations" and demanded his acquittal.
An expected trial
The arrest and detention for more than 130 days in 2016 of Asli Erdogan has sparked outrage around the world. After her release in December 2016, she had to wait until September 2017 to recover her passport and be able to leave Turkey.
For the NGOs, his trial was emblematic of the increasing attacks on freedom of expression in Turkey, in particular since the coup attempt of July 15, 2016.
#Turkey: Three members of the editorial board of # ÖzgürGündem, including # AslıErdoğan & #NecmiyeAlpay, acquitted. The Istanbul Assize Court separated the file from 4 others, including #ErenKeskin, accused of attacking the unity of the state ',' membership of the PKK 'and' terrorist propaganda '. pic.twitter.com/gnvhiMwpKg
- RSF in French (@RSF_fr) February 14, 2020After the failed coup, Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government carried out a relentless crackdown that did not spare intellectuals and the media, such as the opposition daily Cumhuriyet, whose several journalists have been convicted of "terrorism".
In an interview with AFP in 2018, Asli Erdogan, who is not related to President Erdogan, expressed concern about the situation in his country, calling the current government "fascist".
In addition to the novelist, the court acquitted two other people, including linguist Necmiye Alpay, tried with her in the Ozgür Gündem trial.
With AFP
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