The German PEN center elected a new president in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt on Tuesday evening: Deniz Yücel.

The previous president of the German section of the international writers' association, Regula Venske, did not run for re-election.

Yücel prevailed against Marion Tauschwitz.

The publicist, who was born in 1973 in Flörsheim am Main, was arrested for almost a year in 2017 for allegedly supporting a terrorist organization on a trip to Turkey and is now faced with a new trial in Istanbul for allegedly denigrating Turkey.

Jan Wiele

Editor in the features section.

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Regarding his decision to stand for election, Yücel, who had only joined the PEN last year, told Deutschlandfunk that he had recently resented being assigned a role: that of the “German-Turkish journalist who was in the dungeon of the caliph sat ". But then he also noticed that this role brought with it a responsibility to stand up for others. Especially in the light of his own experience, although humble in front of the achievements of the PEN, he also had the portion of self-confidence to face this responsibility, said Yücel on the day after his election to the FAZ In the Paulskirche, Yücel spoke in favor of the “intellectual, political and cultural Confrontation with the enemies of the open society ”. But he is convinced“That we as PEN always have to be in favor of freedom of speech and art as a matter of principle and for our credibility in case of doubt. Also for the freedom of the stupid word, also for the freedom of stupid art, even when it hurts. Against the mighty, against the bad - and if need be, against the good too. "

Is he also referring to the debate about the latest Frankfurt Book Fair? Yes, said Yücel of the FAZ You have to be able to endure if someone suddenly pushes the microphone at an official event like the city councilor Mirrianne Mahn, who interrupted Mayor Peter Feldmann's speech at the award ceremony in the Paulskirche to criticize that “Black women were not welcome at the book fair”. Yücel found Feldmann's reaction strange, however, to give in immediately and to speak out in favor of excluding certain publishers from the book fair. On his last visit to the fair, he was accompanied by police officers, said Yücel. He knows that the book fair takes threats seriously. Still it would not occur to himfor example, publishers of the Turkish government are not allowed to exhibit at the fair. It is about a question of principle and about credibility “as authors, as journalists, as PEN”.