As the court hearing on 29 September approaches, our fight for law and justice intensifies

With three weeks to go before the new court hea­ring in Istan­bul, the Coor­di­na­tion of Col­lec­tives in Soli­da­ri­ty with Pınar Selek wel­comes the conti­nuing mobi­li­sa­tion, as well as the many ini­tia­tives taken not only in France and Tur­key, but also in Swit­zer­land, Bel­gium, Ger­ma­ny and elsew­here in Europe.

This soli­da­ri­ty takes many forms : public rea­dings of novels, short sto­ries or other texts by Pinar Selek ; peti­tions or joint sta­te­ments deman­ding that Pınar Selek and all the vic­tims of Erdo­gan’s regime final­ly be freed from the false charges against them ; pro­tests and uni­ver­si­ty reso­lu­tions in defence of aca­de­mic free­dom ; a poem writ­ten in tri­bute to Pinar Selek ; let­ters and sta­te­ments by lea­ding figures in the lite­ra­ry world, publi­shing houses and book­shops ; femi­nist mani­fes­tos ; fund-rai­sing ; and the deci­sion by many lea­ding figures — lawyers, jurists, elec­ted repre­sen­ta­tives, jour­na­lists and NGO acti­vists — to attend the new court hea­ring in per­son.

Unfor­tu­na­te­ly, Pınar Selek is not the only one threa­te­ned by the Tur­kish autho­ri­ties. Thou­sands of femi­nist and peace acti­vists, many of them Kur­dish, inclu­ding aca­de­mics and mem­bers of par­lia­ment, are lan­gui­shing in Tur­kish pri­sons today. We demand jus­tice for all of them.

Pınar Selek has become a sym­bol of the threat to the free­dom to think, research, express one­self, write and act. These are the very foun­da­tions of demo­cra­cy. This is why, at a time when Tur­key is reaf­fir­ming its inter­est in joi­ning the Euro­pean Union (NATO Sum­mit in Vil­nius on 11 July 2023), it is more essen­tial than ever to demand that the Tur­kish jus­tice sys­tem defi­ni­ti­ve­ly acquits Pınar Selek and frees her from the bur­den that has wei­ghed so unfair­ly on her for over 25 years.

The Coor­di­na­tion, streng­the­ned by the par­ti­ci­pa­tion of nume­rous elec­ted repre­sen­ta­tives and the sup­port of Euro­pean par­lia­men­ta­rians, rei­te­rates its request to the French govern­ment to affirm its full sup­port for the socio­lo­gist, its refu­sal to extra­dite her and its effec­tive com­mit­ment to ensure her pro­tec­tion. It rei­te­rates its request to the Pre­sident of the Repu­blic to inter­vene with the Tur­kish autho­ri­ties on behalf of Pınar Selek and all the other vic­tims of this case. Ankara’s obs­ti­na­cy is lea­ding to a denial of jus­tice. It asks France to coor­di­nate with the other Euro­pean coun­tries and to encou­rage them to refuse to apply the inter­na­tio­nal arrest war­rant against Pinar Selek and thus allow her to tra­vel free­ly.

If you would like to make a finan­cial contri­bu­tion to help us expand our cam­pai­gn, don’t hesi­tate — small rivers make big ones ! Send your contri­bu­tion, howe­ver small, to https://www.helloasso.com/associations/karinca/formulaires/1

If you have an idea for an action or would like to join a col­lec­tive to express your indi­gna­tion, please write to solidaritepinarselek.france@gmail.com.

Would you like to join the dele­ga­tion going to Istan­bul ? Let us know straight away by wri­ting to justice@pinarselek.fr. We will give you all the details you need.

Jus­tice for Pinar Selek ! We will always be with Pınar Selek and against all forms of domi­na­tion.

Coor­di­na­tion of Col­lec­tives in Soli­da­ri­ty with Pınar Selek