Fiction Accused of “Insulting Turkishness”

Zaman Online reports that Turkish novelist Elif Shafak (The Saint of Incipient Insanities) has, like Orhan Pamuk earlier this year, been accused of “insulting Turkishness”:

Ultra-rightwing Turkish Lawyers Association Chairman Kemal Kerincsiz, who is infamous for filing complaints against journalists and authors in the country, has filed a complaint against author Elif Safak for her book “Baba and Pic” (Father and Offspring).

Kemal Kerincsiz, who has sued famous Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk and ethnic-Armenian writer Hrant Dink, has now also accused Elif Safak of ‘insulting Turkishness’ – over remarks made by Armenian characters in her latest book.

And this kind of ridiculous harassment is likely to continue as long as there is Article 301.