{"id":65779,"date":"2013-02-18T12:50:51","date_gmt":"2013-02-18T10:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/?p=65779"},"modified":"2014-01-08T00:25:51","modified_gmt":"2014-01-07T22:25:51","slug":"appeal-to-turkish-justice-minister-to-end-trial-of-god-denying-pianist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2013\/02\/18\/appeal-to-turkish-justice-minister-to-end-trial-of-god-denying-pianist\/","title":{"rendered":"Appeal to Turkish Justice Minister to end trial of God-denying pianist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Appeal to Turkish Justice Minister to end trial of God-denying pianist<\/h1>\n
\"fazil\"February 17, 2013 by Norman Lebrecht<\/div>\n

Fazil Say is due back in court tomorrow to face charges of religious defamation \u2013 blasphemy, in other words \u2013 for avowing his right to be an atheist on Twitter. The following letter has been posted tonight by British musicians and writers:<\/p>\n

Minister of Justice
\n06669 Kizil
\nAnkara
\nTurkey<\/p>\n

17 February 2013<\/p>\n

Dear Minister<\/p>\n

We are joining with English PEN to protest the charges against our fellow composer, musician and writer Faz\u0131l Say.<\/p>\n

On 18 February 2013, celebrated pianist, composer and writer Faz\u0131l Say will appear in court for the second time for comments posted on the social networking service Twitter.<\/p>\n

Say has been charged with religious defamation under Article 216\/3 of the Turkish Penal Code in response to a series of messages posted on Twitter, including one which simply states \u2018I am an atheist and I am proud to be able to say this so comfortably\u2019. He has also been charged under Article 218 of the Turkish Penal Code, which increases sentences by half for offences committed \u2018via press or broadcast\u2019. Say denies the charges.<\/p>\n

The charges are in violation of Say\u2019s right to freedom of expression, as guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Turkey is a signatory. Even those who are usually critical of Say have voiced concerns over this case, which they believe could be damaging to Turkey\u2019s international reputation.<\/p>\n

Say first appeared in court in Istanbul on 18 October 2012, where his lawyers demanded his immediate acquittal. The acquittal call was rejected and the case adjourned until 18 February 2013. He faces up to 18 months in prison if found guilty.<\/p>\n

Faz\u0131l Say is gravely concerned about the negative impact a prison sentence would have on his career as the country\u2019s leading classical composer and an internationally renowned pianist. Furthermore, he has suggested that he would consider moving abroad as a result of the \u2018growing culture of intolerance\u2019 in Turkey.<\/p>\n

As fellow composers, musicians and writers who cherish both creative freedom and the right to free expression we strongly urge you to drop all charges against Faz\u0131l Say immediately and unconditionally.<\/p>\n

Yours sincerely<\/p>\n

Thomas Ad\u00e8s<\/p>\n

Alan Ayckbourn<\/p>\n

William Boyd<\/p>\n

Brian Eno<\/p>\n

Moris Farhi<\/p>\n

Michael Frayn<\/p>\n

Maureen Freely<\/p>\n

Roland Gift<\/p>\n

David Hare<\/p>\n

Charles Hazlewood<\/p>\n

Eva Hoffman<\/p>\n

Hanif Kureishi<\/p>\n

Ian McEwan<\/p>\n

Kamila Shamsie<\/p>\n

Gillian Slovo<\/p>\n

Ahdaf Soueif<\/p>\n

Salil Tripathi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Appeal to Turkish Justice Minister to end trial of God-denying pianist February 17, 2013 by Norman Lebrecht Fazil Say is due back in court tomorrow to face charges of religious defamation \u2013 blasphemy, in other words \u2013 for avowing his right to be an atheist on Twitter. The following letter has been posted tonight by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":65780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[8197],"class_list":["post-65779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk","tag-fazil-say"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}