(New York, NY) – PEN America today welcomed news that a Turkish court acquitted novelist Asli Erdoğan of trumped-up terrorism charges. The following statement is from Karin Deutsch Karlekar, director of Free Expression at Risk Programs at PEN America.
“We are hugely relieved that novelist Aslı Erdoğan and writer and translator Necmiye Alpay have finally been acquitted on terrorism charges, after more than four years of judicial harassment. However, we continue to call for charges against their colleagues in the Özgür Gündem case to be dropped, and for all those wrongfully imprisoned in Turkey as a result of their peaceful free expression to be released.”
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PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect open expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible.
CONTACT: Stephen Fee, Director of Communications, [email protected], +1 202 309 8892