On 28 June, we will be in Istanbul again

On 28 June 2024, an ump­teenth hea­ring will be held in Istan­bul in the ini­qui­tous trial which began 26 years ago against Pınar Selek, the Fran­co-Tur­kish wri­ter and socio­lo­gist, fal­se­ly accu­sed of ter­ro­rism and alrea­dy acquit­ted 4 times.

This is because eve­ry time a court of jus­tice has exa­mi­ned the merits of the case, it has conclu­ded that it was devoid of evi­dence. Howe­ver, at the begin­ning of 2023, Pınar Selek was once again indic­ted without any new evi­dence having been added to her case. Two hea­rings — on 31 March and 29 Sep­tem­ber — had pro­du­ced nothing, other than a refer­ral to a new hea­ring, to which Pinar Selek was again asked to attend in per­son. This is impos­sible and unthin­kable, since an arrest war­rant, with imme­diate impri­son­ment, has been issued for her since Janua­ry 2023.

At the begin­ning of 2024, Tur­key sent France an extra­di­tion request confir­ming the inter­na­tio­nal arrest war­rant. This would lock up Pınar Selek for life. Uni­que­ly based on her research work, her lite­ra­ry works and her stance in favour of the Kur­dish and Arme­nian mino­ri­ties, femi­nist move­ments and LGBTQIA+ mino­ri­ties. All of which clear­ly still remains the obses­sion of a cer­tain Tur­kish power.

We  as Euro­pean citi­zens, peace and femi­nist acti­vists, French elec­ted repre­sen­ta­tives, scien­tists, legal pro­fes­sio­nals, publi­shers and artists, will once again stand along­side Pınar Selek in Tur­key, Europe and the rest of the world, chal­len­ging this uns­pea­kable judi­cial tor­ture.  Once again, we call on the French govern­ment to reaf­firm its sup­port for this French aca­de­mic and citi­zen, and of course to refuse the outra­geous extra­di­tion request. We are also appea­ling to the elec­ted repre­sen­ta­tives of the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment : what is at stake is the defence of aca­de­mic free­dom and free­dom of expres­sion, fun­da­men­tal rights without which no demo­cra­cy can exist.

Ange­la Davis, a North Ame­ri­can acti­vist and phi­lo­so­pher was Invi­ted to Gene­va on 16 March by the Inter­na­tio­nal Film Fes­ti­val and Forum on Human Rights. She has joi­ned our cam­pai­gn in sup­port of Pınar Selek by cal­ling on femi­nist and anti-racist acti­vists from all over the world to turn out in large num­bers for the hea­ring to be held in Istan­bul on 28 June.

La coor­di­na­tion des col­lec­tifs de soli­da­ri­té avec Pinar Selek.

28 March 2024