Imagine a judge hands down a sentence of 15 months in prison<\/a> for your social media posts that criticize your government\u2019s poor human rights record. Or imagine you live in a country where journalists and writers are in hiding, in danger of being arrested, tortured and murdered by the incoming government, as is the case in Afghanistan today<\/a>.<\/p>\n Those of us living comfortably in western countries can ignore such harsh realities elsewhere, but they exist nonetheless. NGOs like PEN International, Reporters Without Borders, Amnesty and Human Rights Watch are the guardians of the rights we take for granted.<\/p>\n Poet-writer Meral\u00a0\u015eim\u015fek<\/a>, a Kurdish PEN member who lives in Diyarbakir, Turkey, will be in court this Tuesday, October 5. According to PEN, she is facing up to 15 years in prison on the charge of \u201cmembership of a terrorist organization\u201d and up to seven-and-a-half-years on the charge of \u201cmaking terrorist propaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n In a separate case, \u015eim\u015fek faces an additional five years in prison on the charge of \u00a0\u201centering a restricted military area\u201d after she fled to Greece earlier this year and was pushed back to Turkey. The hearing will take place on November 16.<\/p>\n In an email to me Sunday, <\/strong>Meral\u00a0\u015eim\u015fek, who is the mother of two sons aged 15 and 17, seemed alarmed at the possibility that she could receive a harsh sentence for her creative work. \u201cI was chosen as a target just because I am a Kurd speaking the truth in this country,\u201d she insists. \u201cI\u2019ve been tortured and threatened by law enforcement before, and I\u2019ve been targeted once again for exposing them \u2014 there is no other explanation for being judged by awards and literary works.<\/p>\n \u201cI have no predictions about what will happen on October 5th, because I’ve been unfairly judged for about a year now. I just hope this injustice will end and I can return to my normal life.\u201d<\/p>\n E<\/strong>kin<\/strong><\/p>\n by Meral \u015eim\u015fek<\/p>\n Your body is the cool highlands of my plundered country E<\/strong>kin<\/strong><\/p>\n Bedenin ki ya\u011fmalanm\u0131\u015f \u00fclkemin serin yaylalar\u0131d\u0131r Meral\u00a0\u015eim\u015fek is presently banned from traveling outside Turkey, but continues to write, adding to her prolific body of work available in Turkish. \u201cMy fifth book will be out soon,\u201d she explained in an email, \u201ca collection of my short stories. I also have a work of poetry and a novel ready to go to press.\u201d<\/p>\n According to PEN, Meral \u015eim\u015fek is the prize-winning author of three poetry books \u2013\u00a0M\u00fclteci D\u00fc\u015fler<\/em>\u00a0(Refugee Dreams<\/em>),\u00a0Ate\u015fe Bulut Ya\u011fd\u0131ran<\/em>\u00a0(Clouds on Fire<\/em>) and\u00a0\u0130ncir Karas\u0131<\/em>\u00a0(Black Fig<\/em>). Her novel\u00a0Nar Lekesi<\/em>\u00a0(Pomegranate Stain<\/em>), published in 2017, tells the story of \u015eim\u015fek\u2019s family and sheds light on the plight of Kurdish people in Turkey in the 1990s. She became a member of Kurdish PEN in June 2020. She also works as an editor and frequently publishes poems and articles.<\/p>\n On December 9, 2020, anti-terror police detained Meral \u015eim\u015fek in Malatya province, Eastern Turkey. She was released the following day pending trial and placed under a travel ban. In January 2021, the Malatya 2nd<\/sup> High Criminal Court formally charged her with \u201cmembership of a terrorist organization\u201d under Article 314\/2 of Turkey\u2019s Penal Code, and \u201cmaking terrorist propaganda\u201dunder Article 7\/2 of Anti-Terror Law No. 3713. The indictment notably mentions \u015eim\u015fek\u2019s short story Arzela<\/em>, featured in the anthology\u00a0Kurdistan + 100<\/em>\u00a0from Comma Press<\/a>, in which twelve contemporary Kurdish writers imagine a country they could call their own by the year 2046. The anthology was awarded a flagship PEN Translates Awards from English PEN in 2021.<\/p>\n Kurds comprise the world\u2019s largest ethnic group, an estimated 40 million people, who remain without their own country, living predominantly in Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq. As the editors of Kurdistan + 100<\/em>, Orsola Casagrande<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Mustafa Gundogdu<\/a> note, \u201cThroughout the 20th century (and so far in the 21st), the Kurds have been betrayed, suppressed, stripped of their basic rights (from citizenship to the freedom to speak their own language) and had their political aspirations crushed at every turn.\u201d<\/p>\n You can help PEN Int\u2019l protest Turkey\u2019s case against Meral\u00a0\u015eim\u015fek here<\/a>, demanding an end to government persecution.<\/p>\n I W<\/strong>as a Woman<\/strong><\/p>\n By Meral\u00a0\u015eim\u015fek<\/p>\n My anger started in the pages of the Torah K<\/strong>adindim<\/strong><\/p>\n Tevrat’\u0131n sayfalar\u0131nda ba\u015flad\u0131 \u00f6fkem Translated by Burhan S\u00f6zmez, PEN International<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In Turkey, in addition to supporting freedom for Meral \u015eim\u015fek and writer-lawyer Nurcan Kaya<\/a>, PEN International is actively campaigning on behalf of imprisoned writer and opposition politician\u00a0Selahattin Demirta\u015f<\/a>, publisher and human rights defender\u00a0Osman Kavala<\/a>, and reporter and poet\u00a0Nedim T\u00fcrfent<\/a>. PEN will issue new statements\/calls to action on behalf of all three in the coming days.<\/span><\/p>\n PEN International<\/a> is active across the Middle East as well as Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. See their list of active cases here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nIt’s not blood oozing from your chest
\nThe milky white of your skin suckles the faith
\nAh Ekin, what would barbarians know?
\nthey don’t know
\nWhile their dirty saliva is flowing
\nYou will be the hope to the light of day
\nSo softly as the deltas of your face stretch
\nYour sleeping eyes stride through tomorrow
\nOh Ekin
\nYou are the red garden rose of postponed calendars
\nBelieve, your faith will grow
\nOn the lips of our little girls
\nThey will speak in unison
\nO my country, we bless you
\nOur body is our anger
\nLet those barbarians know, shame means giving up
\nYour naked body is our resistance<\/p>\n
\nG\u00f6\u011fs\u00fcnden s\u0131zan kan de\u011fildir
\n\u0130nanc\u0131 emzirir teninin s\u00fct beyaz\u0131
\nAh Ekin, ne bilsin barbarlar
\nBilmez onlar
\nKirli salyalar\u0131 akarken
\nSen umut olursun g\u00fcn \u0131\u015f\u0131\u011f\u0131na
\nY\u00fcz\u00fcn\u00fcn deltalar\u0131 uzan\u0131rken \u00f6yle usul
\nYar\u0131n\u0131 ar\u015f\u0131nlar uyuyan g\u00f6zlerin
\nAh Ekin
\nSen ki ertelenmi\u015f takvimlerin k\u0131z\u0131l bah\u00e7e g\u00fcl\u00fc
\n\u0130nan boy verecek inanc\u0131n
\nK\u00f6rpe k\u0131zlar\u0131m\u0131z\u0131n dudaklar\u0131nda
\nDillenecekler hep bir a\u011f\u0131zdan
\nBiz kutsayan\u0131z seni ey \u00fclkem
\nBedenimiz \u00f6fkemizdir
\nBilsinler o barbarlar, utan\u00e7 pes etmektir
\n\u00c7\u0131plak bedenin direncimizdir<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/bKurdistan_100_AI-COVER.jpg\")
<\/a>
\nI’ve fallen in layers
\nfrom the verses of the Bible
\nI blew the Quran
\nIn the question of my childhood
\nThe braid of my hair was driven from Jerusalem to the Kaaba
\nMy children were shot at the foot of my sadness
\nIn a different color every century
\nFrom your religions to your gods
\nCrucified the white of my milk
\nI’m blessed in the sum of the misconceptions
\nI was shot while being blessed
\nmy smile was stoned to death
\nHowever, in the invocation of my fingers, with an undated creation
\nThe talisman of existence has incarnated
\nI died with what I created
\nI was a woman
\nI was multitude
\nI was not<\/p>\n
\nKatre katre d\u00f6k\u00fcld\u00fcm
\n\u0130ncil’in t\u00fcmcelerinden
\nKur’an’\u0131 \u00fcfledim
\nTa \u00e7ocuklu\u011fumun sorgusunda
\nKud\u00fcs’ten K\u00e2be’ye s\u00fcr\u00fcld\u00fc sa\u00e7lar\u0131m\u0131n \u00f6rg\u00fcs\u00fc
\nH\u00fczn\u00fcm\u00fcn eteklerinde vuruldu \u00e7ocuklar\u0131m
\nHer y\u00fczy\u0131lda ba\u015fka bir renkte
\nDinlerinizden tanr\u0131lar\u0131n\u0131za
\n\u00c7arm\u0131ha gerildi s\u00fct\u00fcm\u00fcn beyaz\u0131
\nKutsand\u0131m yan\u0131lg\u0131lar toplam\u0131nda
\nKutsan\u0131rken vuruldum
\nRecmedildi g\u00fcl\u00fc\u015f\u00fcm
\nOysa parmaklar\u0131m\u0131n zikrinde tarihsiz bir yarat\u0131mla
\nG\u00f6vde buldu var olu\u015fun t\u0131ls\u0131m\u0131
\nVar etti\u011fimle \u00f6ld\u00fcm
\nKad\u0131nd\u0131m
\n\u00c7oktum
\nYoktum<\/p>\n