Author Elif Safak Under Investigation

Elif Shafak, one of Turkey's best selling authors and a social scientist with a Master of Science degree in Gender and Woman Studies, is under investigation for her March 2006 published book "Father and Bastard" that was originally written in English.

Shafak and the book's Turkish publishing house Metis director Semih Sokmen testified to the Beyoglu Prosecutor's Office this week in relation to an investigation launched under article 301/1 of the Turkish Penal Code.

The allegation of "insulting Turkishness" was brought forth in a criminal complaint filed by nationalist lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz from the Jurists Union. It is the same charge that was levelled at Turkey's internationally acclaimed writer Orhan Pamuk.

In their statement to the prosecution, Shafak and Sokmen stressed that the book subject to investigation was a work of literature and that comments and remarks taken from the scripts of the characters in the book could not be used to level allegations against the author.

They said the complaint was unjust and that counter to the allegation, the book targeted to broaden a culture of peace between people.

They said that making the book an issue of trial would not only deliver a blow to the democratic developments and process in the country, but would damage the interests of Turkey abroad.

The prosecution will decide within this month whether to level charges against Shafak and the publishing house or dismiss the complaint.

Kerincsiz, the lawyer who filed the complaint against the book, is known for his interventions during the Pamuk case where he not only demanded new charges be launched against the author but wanted to be accepted as an intervening party in the trial itself. He was also present as the intervening side in the case launched against five Turkish writers who criticised a court decision postponing the Ottoman Armenian Conference in Istanbul.

"Father and Bastard" which was published on March 8 is already on the best seller list and the book is sold in Turkey. Originally written in English, the book is in the publishing schedule of Viking/Penguin publishing house.

Elif Shafak, a Turkish citizen, was born in France and spent her childhood in Spain. After studying political science in Turkey, she held teaching positions in the United Kingdom, Turkey, and the United States and then took the position of Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Near Eastern Studies at University of Arizona.

Her publications include both novels and essays, among them The Saint of Incipient Insanities, which was her first book published in English, Bit Palas, Mahrem, which won the Turkish Writers' Association Best Novel of the Year Award, and Sehrin Aynalari. She has also published reviews in The Economist, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Boston Globe, and The Washington Post.

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Other Useful Resources on Elif Shafak are Andrew Finkel's A Profile of Elif Safak and Elif Shafak Home Page .