Aslı Erdoğan

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Aslı Erdoğan (2017)

Aslı Erdoğan (born March 8, 1967 in Istanbul ) is a Turkish physicist , journalist and writer . She is one of the advocates of the Kurdish minority in Turkey. As a columnist , she first wrote for the newspaper Radikal , then from 2011 for the Kurdish-Turkish newspaper Özgür Gündem . On August 16, 2016, Aslı Erdoğan was arrested with 22 other journalists from the newspaper as part of the so-called "purges" following the failed military coup in Turkey on July 15, 2016 . She was released conditionally at the end of December 2016. The process against them is ongoing (as of 09/2017). In September 2017, she received her passport back.

On September 22nd, 2017 she was awarded the Erich Maria Remarque Peace Prize in the Friedenssaal of the Osnabrück town hall . She was able to receive the award personally, as she was allowed to leave the country at short notice beforehand.

Life

Aslı Erdoğan was a child who wrote poems and short stories, one of which was published in a magazine when she was ten years old. During her college years, she began writing again at the age of 22.

Until 1983 she attended the English-speaking Robert College in Istanbul-Arnavutköy and after graduating from school she studied computer science and physics at the Bosphorus University . In 1988 she obtained a bachelor's degree in computer science.

Physicist and writer

She then worked at the physics faculty at her university. In 1990 she wrote her first novella , with which she took third place in the Yunus Nadi Prize literature competition in Turkey. Subsequently, she initially concentrated again on her career as a scientist.

In 1991 she got the opportunity to do research on the Higgs boson at the European nuclear research center CERN in Geneva . For Aslı Erdoğan, however, the work situation at CERN was anything but ideal and was described by her as follows:

“I was only twenty-four, I was the only woman, the only Turkish woman on a team of French-speaking men. Women were generally in the minority at CERN and accordingly exposed, and the competitive thinking and aggressiveness were unbearable. You get there expecting all Einstein and Heisenbergs - and what you find are business people and politicians, all kinds of nasty tricks, people who saw each other's careers off, steal data; it was hard."

Nevertheless, she wrote her master's thesis in physics during this time (until 1993) and, at the same time, wrote her first novel Mucizevi Mandarin (German: The miraculous Mandarin ), which was published in 1996.

In 1993 she returned to Istanbul, worked as an assistant at the university and wrote the novel Kabuk Adam within two months . She felt threatened in Turkey and moved to Brazil in 1994 to write her doctoral thesis at the Pontifical University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). During this time her interest in anthropology grew and she undertook extensive research trips to the Amazon region. In 1994, Kabuk Adam was released in Turkey.

In 1996 she returned to Turkey because of financial difficulties. She turned her back on academic work in order to devote herself entirely to literary and journalistic writing. In the same year she completed and published her book Mucizevi Mandarin ( Eng .: “The Miraculous Mandarin”) , written in Geneva . In 1997 a book with short stories by her was published with the title Tahta Kuşlar ( Eng .: " wooden birds"), which was translated into nine languages. Her breakthrough as a recognized writer came in 1998 with her third book, Kırmızı Pelerinli Kent (German: “The City with the Red Tile ”).

Subsequently, from 1998 to 2001 she wrote columns with the title Der Andere for the left-liberal Turkish daily Radikal , reported on the conditions in Turkish prisons, on torture and violence against women, denounced the state repression against Kurds and supported prisoners on hunger strikes. She has been involved in human rights issues since the beginning and was a member of the PEN's “Writers in Detention” committee. She summarized her columns in the book Bir Yolculuk Ne Zaman Biter . Her books have also been translated into French and English.

At Deutsche Welle , she won the 1997 authors' competition for Turkish-language contributions with the short story Holzvögel , which also gave the title for the published collection. In 2010 she received the Sait Faik Literature Prize , the most important literary prize in Turkey, for her novel Taş Bina ve Diğerleri (“Stone Building”) .

From December 2011 to May 2012, Aslı Erdoğan stayed in Zurich as “writer in residence” of the Literaturhaus Zürich and the PWG Foundation . From August 2012 to summer 2013 she was the “asylum writer” for the city of Graz . After returning home, she continued her work for Özgür Gündem . She felt threatened again and was invited to the ICORN , a city network for the protection of writers, as a guest writer in Krakow in 2015 .

In September 2016, the Swedish PEN awarded the writer imprisoned in Turkey the Tucholsky Prize for authors who are persecuted or threatened in their own country.

"One must always keep the belief alive in oneself that one can change the world, at least the world within ourselves. For otherwise why should we live, why should we write then?"

- Erdoğan, statement at Lit.Cologne 2017, via connection from Turkey.

Arrest and trial

Erdoğan was arrested on August 16, 2016 in Istanbul as part of a wave of arrests of journalists and employees of the pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem . The arrest came after prosecutors ordered the newspaper to be closed. Aslı Erdoğan was accused of “propaganda for an illegal organization”, “membership of an illegal organization” and “sedition”. The court cited her articles and columns as evidence. After being shown before a judge, Aslı Erdoğan was transferred to Bakirköy Prison .

Most of Özgür Gündem's journalists were released on August 18, 2016 , while Aslı Erdoğan continued to be held in custody. In September 2016, a letter from Aslı Erdoğan was leaked to Swiss television (SRF), in which she reported on the arrest in Istanbul. Your appeal not to forget the writers who were thrown into prison by the regime of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was the focus of Heinrich Riethmüller's speech at the opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2016. In November 2016, the public prosecutor in Istanbul called for u. a. Membership and propaganda for the banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK, life imprisonment for Aslı Erdoğan.

On December 29, 2016, the trial of Erdoğan and eight other defendants was opened in an Istanbul court. To everyone's surprise, the judge ordered the seriously ill Aslı Erdoğan, 70-year-old linguist and translator Necmiye Alpay, and Özgür Gündem's deputy editor-in-chief , Zana Kaya, to be released from custody on the first day of the trial . However, she was also banned from leaving the country. Erdoğan's ban on leaving the country was lifted in September 2017. In Germany she received a residence permit for two years and in Frankfurt a two-year scholarship "City of Refuge".

Aslı Erdoğan commented on the prosecutor's allegations himself. In her defense speech, she explained all the articles that had been presented as evidence by the prosecutor and refuted the allegations. Özgür Gündem was founded to give the oppressed Kurdish people an information platform. In not one of her columns she spoke of violence. "I'm just a writer," she explained. And: “One should be ashamed that a writer has to defend her literature in a courtroom and flanked by gendarmes.” The trial was to continue on January 2, 2017.

Reactions

The Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels had campaigned for Erdoğan's release from prison .

Awards

Works in German translation

  • The city with the red cape . From the Turkish by Angelika Gillitz-Acar and Angelika Hoch; Afterword by Karin Schweisgut. Unionsverlag , Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-293-10010-7 ( Kirmizi Pelerinli Kent , Everest Yayinlari, Istanbul 2000)
  • The miraculous mandarin . From the Turkish by Recai Hallaç , Ed. Galata, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-935597-73-9 ( Mucizevi mandarin , Everest Yayinlari, Istanbul 2000)
  • Wooden birds. Literature competition for the Turkish language 1997; The award-winning contributions. Deutsche Welle Literature Prize 1997 . Önel Verlag , Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-933348-01-3
  • Even the silence isn't ours anymore . Essays. Knaus Verlag , Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-8135-0780-5
  • Das Haus aus Stein , Roman, translator Gerhard Meier, Penguin Verlag, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-328-60076-3 ( Tas Bina )

Web links and literature

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Aslı Erdoğan . Biyografya, accessed December 31, 2016 (Turkish).
  2. ^ A b Karen Krüger: Writer Asli Erdogan arrested. FAZ.net , August 17, 2016, accessed December 31, 2016 .
  3. ^ Kurdish daily shut down an journalists houses raided in Turkey . European Federation of Journalists August 17, 2016, accessed December 31, 2016 (English; list of names).
    Court bans Kurdish newspaper . Reporters Without Borders , August 16, 2016, accessed December 31, 2016.
    Aslı Erdoğan arrested. Unionsverlag , August 17, 2016, archived from the original on September 20, 2016 ; accessed on December 31, 2016 .
  4. ↑ www.berliner-zeitung.de
  5. ↑ Christine Adam: Peace Prize in Osnabrück: Asli Erdogan - A courageous voice of the victims. In: noz.de. September 22, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017 .
  6. ↑ a b c Aslı Erdoğan . Munzinger Archive , accessed December 31, 2016.
  7. ↑ a b c d Mehmet Basutçu: Aslı Erdoğan: Portrait insaisissable d'une jeune écrivaine tourmentée . Babel Med, accessed December 31, 2016 (French).
  8. ↑ A Short Biography . Aslı Erdoğan's website, accessed December 31, 2016.
  9. ↑ a b c Asli Erdoğan . Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin 2016 , accessed on December 31, 2016.
  10. ↑ Angela Schader: Writer Asli Erdogan arrested: Too close to the fire . Neue Zürcher Zeitung , August 17, 2016, accessed on December 31, 2016.
  11. ↑ Angela Schader: The Turkish writer Aslı Erdoğan is “writer in residence” in Zurich for six months: A home away from home . Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 8, 2012, accessed on December 31, 2016.
  12. ↑ a b c Aslı Erdoğan - Homepage - A Short Biography
  13. ↑ a b Novelist Aslı Erdoğan Detained . Bianet, August 17, 2016, accessed December 31, 2016.
  14. ↑ a b Aslı Erdoğan . TCF - Turkish Cultural Foundation, accessed December 31, 2016.
  15. ^ Rainer Hermann: Author Asli Erdogan: A Turkish Winter Journey . FAZ.net , December 27, 2012.
  16. ↑ Aslı Erdoğan: An active human rights activist . Writers in Residence in Zurich, accessed December 31, 2016.
  17. ↑ Asli Erdogan moved into the Schlossberg . APA article in Der Standard , August 10, 2012, accessed May 22, 2015.
  18. ^ Aslı Erdoğan new ICORN writer in Krakow. (No longer available online.) ICORN, July 7, 2015, archived from the original on October 2, 2016 ; accessed on September 21, 2016 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Krakow ICORN Guest Writer arrested in Turkey. Edinburgh City of Literature, August 19, 2016, accessed December 31, 2016 . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / icorn.org
  19. ↑ Can Dündar at lit.Cologne: About freedom of the word , Deutschlandfunk , March 10, 2017
  20. ↑ Karen Krüger: Arrested writer: Asli Erdogan speaks out what others are silent about . Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , August 19, 2016, accessed on December 31, 2016.
  21. ↑ a b Daniel Blickenstorfer: “Don't forget me. And my books. They are my children ”. Swiss Radio and Television (SRF), September 3, 2016, accessed on December 31, 2016 .
  22. ↑ Asli Erdogan: brought before the judge and transferred to prison . ( Memento of the original from September 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Unionsverlag , August 19, 2016, accessed December 31, 2016.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.unionsverlag.com
  23. ↑ 22 released in Istanbul after Özgür Gündem raid . Hürriyet Daily News , August 19, 2016, accessed December 31, 2016.
    Arrested Turkish novelist Aslı Erdoğan mistreated in prison during arrest . Hürriyet Daily News , August 25, 2016, accessed December 31, 2016.
    Justice Ministry denies mistreatment claims by arrested Turkish novelist Aslı Erdoğan . Hürriyet Daily News, August 26, 2016, accessed December 31, 2016.
  24. ↑ Jürg Altwegg: Don't forget me! Signs of life from Aslı Erdoğan. FAZ.net , September 22, 2016, accessed on December 29, 2016 .
  25. ^ Tilman Spreckelsen : Criticism of Turkey at the opening of the book fair. Appeal from the imprisoned author . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of October 19, 2016, p. 1.
  26. ^ Writer Asli Erdogan faces life imprisonment. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , November 10, 2016, accessed on December 31, 2016 .
  27. ↑ Necmiye Alpay . Pen-America, accessed December 31, 2016.
  28. ↑ Rengin Arslan: Özgür Gündem davası - Aslı Erdoğan, Necmiye Alpay ve Zana Kaya tahliye edildi . BBC , December 29, 2016, accessed December 31, 2016 (Turkish).
  29. ↑ Necmiye Alpay, Aslı Erdoğan, Zana Kaya Released . Bianet, December 29, 2016, accessed on December 31, 2016 (English; with pictures).
  30. ^ Turkey: writer Aslı Erdoğan is allowed to leave. In: zeit.de . September 8, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017 .
  31. ↑ Colette M. Schmidt: Asli Erdogan: "The solidarity outside saved my life". In: The Standard. January 24, 2018, accessed on February 27, 2018 (interview).
  32. ↑ Arrests in Turkey Asli Erdogan is released, Ahmet Sik is arrested . faz.net , December 29, 2016.
  33. ↑ Trial against Aslı Erdoğan begins . taz , December 30, 2016, p. 2 of the printed edition.
  34. ↑ Turkish author: Court orders Asli Erdogan's release . Die Welt , December 29, 2016, accessed December 31, 2016.
  35. ^ After the attempted coup: Asli Erdogan released from prison. In: handelsblatt.com . dpa , December 29, 2016, accessed on December 31, 2016 .
  36. ↑ Turkish writer - trial against author Asli Erdogan continues . In: Deutschlandfunk . ( deutschlandfunk.de [accessed July 19, 2017]).
  37. ^ Tucholsky Prize for Asli Erdogan. Der Standard , September 22, 2016, accessed February 12, 2017 .
  38. ↑ Excellent Turkish author Asli Erdogan. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , January 10, 2017, accessed on January 10, 2017 .
  39. ↑ Press release: 2017 ECF Princess Margriet Award for Culture. European Cultural Foundation , February 2, 2017, accessed February 11, 2017 .
  40. ↑ badische-zeitung.de , Kultur , April 3, 2017, Bettina Wieselmann: The responsible citizen cannot be silenced (April 6, 2017)
  41. ↑ Erich Maria Remarque Peace Prize 2017 - Aslı Erdoğan receives award , boersenblatt.net, May 19, 2017, accessed on May 20, 2017
  42. ↑ Aslı Erdogan receives the Erich Maria Remarque Peace Prize 2017. Accessed on September 22, 2017 .
  43. ↑ deutschlandfunk.de , April 24, 2017, Kristina Karasu: A voice of conscience (April 24, 2017)
personal data
SURNAME Erdoğan, Aslı
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Turkish physicist, journalist and writer
DATE OF BIRTH March 8, 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH Istanbul