Writers at Risk Database

Dzamshid Karimov

Freelance journalist Karimov has twice been placed in psychiatric detention by Uzbek authorities--for 5 years in 2006 and again for 5 years in 2012. A nephew of former president… More

Deniz Zarakolu

The son of human rights activists, Zarakolu was first arrested in 2002 for a speech he gave at his mother's funeral. In 2011, he was arrested again in a… More

İlhan Sami Çomak

Kurdish poet Çomak was arrested in 1994 and sentenced to life in prison for membership in the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party. While in prison, he has published eight books… More

Ayşe Düzkan

On June 11, 2019, Düzkan was released after serving 18 months in Bakırköy prison in Istanbul. She was originally imprisoned in January 2018 on terrorism charges for her work… More

Edip Polat

Edip Polat

A Kurdish writer, Polat has been jailed three times for writing in support of Kurdish self-determination, which authorities deemed to be “separatist propaganda,” even though many of his works… More

Writers at Risk Database

Fazil Say

On May 25, 2012, renowned composer, pianist, and writer Fazil Say was charged with religious defamation in connection with a series of social media posts. In 2013, he received… More

Writers at Risk Database

Eşber Yağmurdereli

Blind human rights activist Yağmurdereli has spent nearly 20 years in prison on various charges related to comments about Türkiye's human rights abuses. Most recently, he was arrested in… More

Ayşe Nur Zarakolu

Ayşe Nur Zarakolu

Founder of the Freedom to Publish Commission, Zarakolu was a pioneering female figure in Türkiye's literary world. A political essayist herself, she was arrested over 30 times for her… More

Writers at Risk Database

Doğan Akhanli

A writer specializing in genocide studies, Akhanli has been arrested and imprisoned several times for his work on the Armenian Genocide. In 1991, he fled Türkiye for Germany where,… More

Rakhim Esenov

In February 2004, Esenov was charged with “inciting social, national, and religious hatred using the mass media” for statements made by characters in his novel, Ventsenosny Skitalets (The Crowned… More