The Chronicle: U. of Arizona Professor Faces Charges in Turkey Over New Novel
A professor at the University of Arizona faces a possible trial in Turkey based on the content of her latest novel, which traces the lives of a Muslim-Turkish family living in Istanbul and an Armenian-American family in San Francisco.
Elif Shafak, an assistant professor of Turkish and women’s studies in the university’s department of Near Eastern studies, has been charged with “denigrating Turkishness” in The Bastard of Istanbul. “The novel deals with the question of ‘memory and amnesia,’ mainly through Turkish and Armenian women’s stories,” Ms. Shafak explained by e-mail. “It deals with two particular taboos in Turkish society. One of them is a political taboo — the Armenian question. The other is a sexual taboo — incest. The novel is highly critical of both the nationalist and sexist fabric of Turkish society.”
The Turkish government officially rejects the widely accepted view that the killings of as many as 1.5-million Armenians during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire constituted genocide. Ultra-nationalist lawyers and prosecutors in Turkey have vigorously pursued those who even suggest otherwise. The nationalists cite the controversial Article 301 of Turkey’s penal code, which criminalizes insults to the republic, Turkishness, and various state institutions.
Last year Turkey’s most internationally acclaimed novelist, Orhan Pamuk, went to trial on similar charges for remarks he had made in an interview with a Swiss publication. The trial was adjourned soon after it began and the charges dropped.
Follow
