A few weeks ago, shortly after Doğan Akhanli was mentioned in the Dante series of the FAZ feature pages, he sent a short message that was entirely in keeping with his reserved disposition. It had not occurred to him even in his wildest dreams to see a connection between himself and Dante, he wrote and thanked him that his late close friend had appeared in the little text. Now the writer and activist Doğan Akhanli has died himself, at the age of only 63, and everyone who knew this gentle philanthropist, music lover, campaigner for peace, democracy and human rights reacted with dismay to the news. Indeed, Akhanli was about nothing less than making the world a better place. And nothing was further from himthan to insist on a grand entrance.

Karen Kruger

Editor in the features section.

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Born in 1957 in Şavşat in the Artvin province on the Turkish Black Sea coast, where the entire Armenian population was wiped out during the genocide in 1915, he wanted to use his literary work to bring about reconciliation between people: between Turks and Armenians, Kurds and Greeks, but also between Germans and Jews and other minorities. Wherever he considered it necessary, he fought to maintain the culture of remembrance and tried to strengthen it where political interests make it almost impossible. In "Kiyamet Günü Yargiclari" ("The Judges of the Last Judgment") from 1999 he was one of the first Turks to address the genocide of the Armenians in Turkish in a novel. Akhanli was attacked by many for this,in Germany by right-wing nationalist Turks as well as by nationalists and media loyal to the regime in Turkey.

Interrogated and tortured for ten days

If Akhanli, contrary to his nature, found himself on a big stage, for example in 2019 at the awarding of the Goethe Medal, then you experienced a level-headed, almost quiet man whose words always resonated in you for a long time.

Anyone who listened to him or read his novel had a broader view of the world afterwards.

Because Doğan Akhanli knew very well what he was talking about and writing about.

He had experienced injustice, political violence and arbitrariness often enough himself.

At the age of eighteen he was arrested for the first time in Turkey and beaten by police officers for buying a left-wing magazine from a kiosk. After his release, he joined a communist group and went underground after the September 12, 1980 military coup. He organized demonstrations, printed leaflets and newspapers - for almost five years until he was again in police custody - this time together with his wife Ayse and their 16-month-old son. The couple were interrogated and tortured in the presence of their child for ten days. In 1991 the family managed to escape from Turkey. Akhanli found political asylum in Germany and a new home in Cologne, where he set up the independent KulturForum TurkeyGermany together with other Turkish exiles.In Cologne he also began to work as a writer in order to face his own story. The language of his writing remained Turkish until the end.

A manifest against the Turkish government

Even after his forced expatriation in 1998, Ankara did not give up Akhanli. When he returned to Turkey for the first time in 2010 to bury his father, he was arrested on outrageous allegations at the airport and tried. It ended in an acquittal. Two witnesses admitted that they gave their testimony due to police pressure. Despite this, the Turkish judiciary managed to obtain an international arrest warrant against Akhanli in 2013, which led to his arrest in 2017 while on vacation in Spain. Although the German-Turkish writer was released one day later, he was only allowed to leave Spain after two months. During this time he wrote his autobiography "Arrest in Granada - Is Turkey driving into dictatorship?"which became a courageous manifesto against the Turkish government.

On Sunday, Doğan Akhanli's life, which wanted a lot of good and which the Turkish state has repeatedly turned into a nightmare, came to an end in Berlin after a short, serious illness.

Akhanli's companions are certain that without the time in detention, without the torture they have suffered, their friend's body would have been more resilient.

A person like him is already missing.