Life sentence is being asked once again for feminist, writer, sociologist, activist Pinar Selek who has been on trial, imprisoned, tortured and acquitted again and again, for the last 19 years

Received this letter from Mehmet Atak. 

Dear all,

 

I often sent you many e:mails about Asli Erdogan, during the five months that she was kept in prison unlawfully, whose books had been translated into 18 languages and who had received many internaional awards. In my e:mails, I mentioned about human rights and freedom of expression violations in Turkey, as well. Moreover, I sent you the translations of the reports of 17 criminal lawyers (judge, lawyer, academician) with different political views, who said that all phases of lawsuit and arrest were unlawful in accordance with the existing Turkish legal system after they had reviewed Asli’s court file.

 

In  some of my e:mails, I wrote you that targeting Asli had been a warning for the other white collar citizens in Turkey. Asli is a woman, who graduated from most elite schools in Turkey like Robert College and Bogazici University, studied in “God particle” project at Cern, later when she began to write, whose books were printed in many countries and who received many international awards, and she has been targeted upon her not hesitating to oppose to authority about the rights of humans, animals and environment and discriminated groups, Kurdish people being in the first place, instead of locating at one of the highest levels of the social pyramid. “Look what happenned to Asli Erdogan; if you do not watch your steps and oppose, the same could happen to you easily” has been simply wanted to be told to the other white collar Turks.

 

A sociologist, a writer (P.E.N. member) and specially an anti-militarist and a peace activist Pinar Selek has reached to a climax in “being targeted”, who has been stood trial for the last 19 years as a legal scandal. What has been done to Pinar is almost the same with what has been done to American opponent actor Jean Seberg as told in the FBI reports published as a book by Romain Gary after her suicide.

 

As the exact opposite of Durkheim and Mauss way in sociology, Pinar is a sociologist human who does not see the humans in her researches as subjects of the research, but as humans; who does not close the street childs, immigrants, transvestites, women who were violently victimized and many others who were discriminated into her book after her research was completed; who set up workshops and walk with them as a human. She is a person who set up workshops with many discriminated people at feminist Amargi Cooperative and Journal which she had founded and help them to open new doors in their lives. Today there are journalists, writers, actors, etc. who had been from the lowest levels of the social pyramid and discriminated the most, came out from these workshops.

 

Pinar was arrested in 1998 for the first time with the accusation of making PKK propaganda while she was making researches for her sociology book published with the name of “Could Not Make Peace” on PKK and Kurd issues. Pinar was exposed to heavy torture like palestinian hanging, electroshock and electrifying her skull during interrogation and jail. (She has a report from Berlin Überleben Therapy Center for Torture Victims which confirms these tortures.)

 

Pinar was acquitted two times in 2002 and 2006.

 

Despite these acquittals, a case was opened again against Pinar in November 2010. This time Pinar was accused of bombing Misir Carsisi (small covered bazaar at Eminonu). Though not involved at the trial, various state institutions sent eight sacks of false evidence to the courst against Pinar, however, there was not even one rational evidence to tie Pinar to the explosion. During the session in November 2011, her acquittal was declared by the court. But, in January 2013, Supreme Court reversed the judgement of this court and requested heavy life sentence for Pinar again. At the end of new trial period, in December 2014, the court declared acquittal for Pinar, against whom there was not even one rational evidence (4th acquittal). 

 

Pinar was seen as a threat to be punished because “she saw the game and she said that she had seen the game” as R. D. Laig said as a black fish, instead of being a white girl having her place in the pyramid for the sake of the system.   

 

During the last days of 2010, I staged a play for Pinar with the name of “A Fairy Tale Spring (Pinar): Government Does Not Kill One by only Taking His/Her Life” which I had written by using Pinar’s fairy tales. I believe that the name of the play is enough to tell what has been done to Pinar by itself.

 

After her book “Could not Make Peace” had been published in 2004, Pinar published an important second sociological book about trans-individuals and LGBTI in 2008: “Masks, Cavalry, Nellies”. In 2011, Pinar published an important third sociological book about militarism, military service and consciencious objection: “Being Man by Crawling Along”. She received doctor’s degree in political sciences from Strasbourg University in 2014 with her thesis titled “Dissident Movements Interactions with Eachother in Turkey”.

 

Moreover, Pinar wrote two fairy tale books for children after 2010 with the names of “Green Girl” and “Water Drop” and in 2011 a novel named “a place where passengers frequently stop by”.

 

Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Court demanded once again the reversal of the acquittal of Pinar Selek in January 2017 despite expert reports proved the explosion in Misir Carsisi had been due to gas tube not to bombing which Pinar had been irrelative and who was acquitted four times and was on exhile since 2009.

Pinar means “spring” in English. Despite to all she was exposed to, Pinar, kept smiling, writing and researching; she ran by opening water ditches for the discriminated people. In today’s circumstances this Spring will dry up the moment she returns to her body of water, her homeland. Please do whatever you can for this Spring not to dry up.

 

 You can learn more information from Ms Yasemin Oz who is a feminist lawyer land also the International Spokesperson of Justice for Pinar Selek Committe. (yaseminsevval@yahoo.com)

 

Or you can contact directly to Pınar (selekpinar@gmail.com)

 

Best regards,

 

 ps. In February 7, 2017, by way of statutory decree no. 686, 330 academicians, 115 of which are from Academicians Initiative for Peace, from Turkey’s long established universities were dismissed from profession.