Ragıp Zarakolu facts for kids

Ragıp Zarakolu (born 1948) is a Turkish human rights activist and publisher. He has faced many legal challenges for publishing books on sensitive topics in Turkey. These topics often include minority rights and human rights in Turkey.

About Ragıp Zarakolu

Ragıp Zarakolu was born in 1948 on Büyükada, an island near Istanbul. His father was the district governor there. Ragıp grew up with friends from Greek and Armenian minority groups in Turkey. In 1968, he started writing for magazines like Ant and Yeni Ufuklar.

Early Challenges

In 1971, the military took control in Turkey. Ragıp Zarakolu was accused of secretly working with Amnesty International. He was held in prison for five months, but the charges were later dropped. In 1972, he was sentenced to two years in prison. This was for an article he wrote about Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnam War. He was released in 1974. After his release, Ragıp continued to fight for freedom of thought. He wanted people in Turkey to respect different ideas and cultures.

Belge Publishing House

In 1977, Ragıp and his wife, Ayşenur, started the Belge Publishing House in Istanbul. This publishing house often faced censorship from Turkish laws. Because of the books they published, both Ayşenur and Ragıp were put in prison. Many of their books were taken away and destroyed, and they had to pay large fines.

In 1979, Ragıp Zarakolu helped start a daily newspaper called Demokrat. He was in charge of foreign news. The paper was banned after a military takeover in 1980. Ragıp was briefly imprisoned again in 1982 because of his work with Demokrat. He was not allowed to leave Turkey between 1971 and 1991.

Fighting for Rights

In 1986, Ragıp became one of the founders of the Human Rights Association of Turkey (HRA). For some time, he led the Writers in Prison Committee for International PEN in Turkey. In 2007, he was the head of the Committee for Freedom of Publication in the Union of Publishers.

Belge Publishing House first published academic books. After the 1980 military coup, they started publishing books written by political prisoners. These books included poems, short stories, and novels. Belge also published many books about Greek literature, the Armenian Question, and the Jews in Turkey. They also published books about the Kurds in Turkey.

Ragıp Zarakolu also published books about the Armenian genocide. One example is Professor Dora Sakayan's book, An Armenian Doctor in Turkey: Garabed Hatcherian: My Smyrna Ordeal of 1922. Publishing this book led to new legal problems for him in 2005. In 2007, he published David Gaunt's book Massacres, resistance, protectors in Turkish. This book was about the Assyrian genocide.

In 1995, a far-right group attacked the Belge Publishing House offices with firebombs. The office had to move to a cellar. After his wife Ayşenur passed away in 2002, Ragıp continued to face legal challenges.

In May 2017, police raided Belge Publishing House. They took all copies of a book called Stateless Kurds and Decisions Tougher than Death. They also took hundreds of older books from the 1980s and 1990s, even though they did not have orders to do so.

Ragıp Zarakolu is also related to Professor Ayşe Zarakol from the University of Cambridge.

Legal Challenges

Ragıp Zarakolu and Belge Publishing House have faced many court cases. His wife Ayşenur often stood trial instead of him before she passed away. These cases were usually about the books they published.

Facing Charges

In 2002, Ayşenur Zarakolu was accused of spreading ideas that promoted separation. This was because Belge published a book called Songs of Freedom. Ragıp told the court that this would have been her 34th court case if she were alive. The charges were dropped after the court learned that Ayşenur had died.

In 2003, Ragıp Zarakolu was cleared of charges for translating a book called The Regime of 12 September on Trial.

In 2004, Ragıp Zarakolu faced charges for an article in the newspaper Ülkede Özgür Gündem. The court gave fines and prison sentences to others involved, but Ragıp's case was handled separately.

Article 301 Cases

Ragıp Zarakolu was charged under Article 301 of the Turkish penal code. This was for translating Professor Dora Sakayan's book, An Armenian Doctor in Turkey. He also faced charges for publishing the book The Truth Will Set Us Free by George Jerjian, which was about the Armenian genocide. These cases were combined.

In June 2008, Ragıp was found guilty of "insulting the institutions of the Turkish Republic" for publishing Jerjian's book. He was sentenced to five months in prison. However, the judge said he could avoid prison by paying a fine because of his "good behavior."

KCK Case

On October 28, 2011, Ragıp Zarakolu was taken into custody as part of the KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) operation. In February 2012, members of the Swedish Parliament nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

He was released from custody on April 10, 2012. In 2013, Zarakolu moved to Sweden. In 2020, the European Court of Human Rights decided that his imprisonment was against his right to freedom and expression. They ordered Turkey to pay him damages.

Awards and Recognition

Ragıp Zarakolu has received several awards for his work and his fight for freedom of expression.

In 2003, he received the NOVIB/PEN Free Expression Award.

In October 1998, the International Publishers Association honored Ayşenur Zarakolu with the International Freedom to Publish Award. She could not attend the ceremony because her passport had been taken away.

In September 2008, the same organization gave Ragıp Zarakolu the 2008 IPA Freedom to Publish Prize. This award was meant to tell Turkish authorities that their laws needed to change to meet international standards for freedom of expression.

In March 2012, while he was in prison, the Assyrian Culture Centre in Stockholm, Sweden, gave Ragıp Zarakolu the Assyrian Cultural Award. This was for his work as a supporter of human and minority rights in Turkey and Europe.