Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Armenia Report
Monday, 8 August, 2005 
http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeniareport/report/en/2005/08/BBB1255C-5319-436C-A998-4335BADF66E3.ASP

Mother Pleads For Turkish Scholar's Release From Armenian Jail
		
By Ruzanna Khachatrian

The mother of a Turkish researcher facing up to eight years in prison
for attempting to take old books out of Armenia pleaded with the
authorities in Yerevan on Monday to set him free and end his
controversial prosecution.

Gulsin Turkyilmaz spoke to RFE/RL after visiting her 33-year-old
son Yektan in a maximum security prison in Yerevan where he has been
kept since his arrest on June 17. "I hope that they won't imprison
him," she said. "If he knew that [he is violating Armenian laws] he
wouldn't do that."

"Yektan would never do any harm to this country," she added. 

Turkyilmaz was allowed to see his mother the day before the start
of his trial which is expected to be attended by representatives of
Duke University in North Carolina where he is pursuing a Ph.D. in
Ottoman history. The unusually harsh charges leveled against him have
drawn protests from U.S. academic circles, prominent Turkish
intellectuals and a retired pro-Armenian U.S. senator. 

The first Turkish academic to be granted access to Armenia's
national archives, Turkyilmaz is prosecuted under Article 215 of the
Armenian Criminal Code that calls for between 4 and 8 years'
imprisonment for the contraband of anything ranging from antique books
to weapons of mass destruction. He was detained at Yerevan's Zvartnots
airport while boarding a plane bound for Istanbul.

Turkyilmaz, who is fluent in Armenian and several other foreign
languages, carried 88 Armenian books which he bought or was presented
with in Yerevan. Seven of those books, including a 17th century Bible,
were particularly old and required government permission for being
taken abroad. The doctoral candidate told investigators and his mother
that he was unaware of that requirement. 

"After all, books like that are available for sale in Armenia," one of
his Armenian attorneys, Vartuhi Elbakian, told RFE/RL. 

"Yektan bought them without violating the law," argued the other lawyer,
Hrair Ghukasian.

Individuals detained while trying to smuggle cultural treasures
have rarely been imprisoned in Armenia. Such cases usually end in heavy
fines and the confiscation of those artifacts. 

Sources familiar with the case claim that Armenia's National
Security Service (NSS) considered charging Turkyilmaz with espionage
before bringing the draconian smuggling accusations. The NSS has
refused to divulge any details of the investigation before the trial. 

Turkey's government has still not officially commented on the
prosecution of the Turkish national. Turkyilmaz is among few Turks who
have publicly challenged Ankara's vehement denial of the 1915-1923
genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. 

In Elbakian's words, a leading Turkish pro-establishment daily
referred to the scholar as "a friend of the Armenians" shortly after
his arrest. "We are worried that if he is freed and returns to Turkey
he could face prosecution there," the lawyer said. 

Meanwhile, the case is gaining a growing international resonance,
with more than 200 scholars from the United States, Turkey and Armenia
reportedly having signed an open letter to President Robert Kocharian
that calls for their colleague's immediate release. The letter warned
that his imprisonment could "raise serious doubts as to whether Armenia
encourages independent scholarly research on its history."

Among its signatories are Turkish historians Taner Akcam, Murat
Belge, Halil Berktay as well as publisher Ragip Zarakolu and one of
Turkey's most famous novelists, Orhan Pamuk. They have all described
the mass killings of Ottoman Armenians as a genocide despite threats
and condemnation from the Turkish establishment. 

"As the leader of a great country, you have the ability to
intervene in this matter and to determine the appropriateness of the
actions of your government and the Armenian prosecutors and police,"
the Duke University president, Richard Brodhead, said in separate
message to Kocharian last week. 

Adding his voice to the outcry on August 2 was Bob Dole, a former
U.S. Senate majority leader and Republican presidential candidate known
for his staunch advocacy of Armenian issues. In a strongly-worded
letter to Kocharian posted on Groong.com, he demanded that Turkyilmaz
be released "at once," saying that the Criminal Code article used
against him is "unique in the community of free nations."

Dole warned that failure to release Turkyilmaz would further
tarnish Yerevan's already negative image in the West. "Your detention
of Yektan for seven weeks on any grounds would draw attention to
failings in Armenia's democratic evolution," he said. "To detain him on
grounds as dubious as these calls into question Armenia's commitment to
democracy in the first place."

"Your treatment of Yektan makes Armenia look bad -- with good
reason," he added. "Armenia has many friends in the United States, but
we cannot and will not defend the indefensible."