Dear friends,
MIT linguistics professor and activist Noam Chomsky is headed for Turkey for the February 13 trial against Fatih Tas of Aram Publishing House, the Istanbul-based publisher of his book American Interventionism.
The chief prosecutor of the Istanbul National Security Court has charged the publisher with the crime of "propaganda against the indivisible unity of [the] country, nation, and State of the Republic of Turkey."
Fatih Tas could face a year in prison if found guilty.
Among the passages that the prosecutor singled out is Chomsky's well-documented assertion that "the Turkish government launched a major war in the Southeast against the Kurdish population" in 1984.
You can read more about the trial and background at:
http://www.stopcensorship.org http://www.zmag.org/content/ForeignPolicy/aram0122.cfm
Aram Publishers is asking for people to sign the following letter of protest to be delivered to the Turkish court on February 13.
We, the undersigned, oppose any efforts to prosecute Professor Noam Chomsky and his publisher Fatih Tas (Aram Publishing House). This is an abridgement of fundamental and universal rights of free expression. We call on the Turkish State to cease this an all similar efforts to limit free speech, particularly expressions of Kurdish ethnic identity and cultural rights, including education in the mother tongue.
Please e-mail your endorsements to: aramcase at hotmail.com and indicate your full name, organizational affiliation (if you desire), city, state, and country.
Please feel free to forward this to others who may be interested in signing on, as well.
In solidarity Anthony Arnove
* Anthony Arnove South End Press 7 Brookline Street #1 Cambridge MA 02139-4146 v 617-547-4002 f 617-547-1333 e arnove at igc.org w http://www.southendpress.org/
National Writers Union/UAW Local 1981
Editor of Iraq Under Siege (South End Press and Pluto Press, 2000): http://www.southendpress.org/books/iraq.shtml