Author Aslı Erdoğan’s message from Turkey: ‘The state is not acting nobly!’
After having been released from jail, world-renown author Aslı Erdoğan answered questions of Canan Coşkun from Cumhuriyet newspaper.
A former member of the advisory board of the shut down Özgür Gündem newspaper, Erdoğan was taken into custody and arrested more than 4 months ago over charges on ‘membership of PKK’ and ‘making propaganda for the terrorist organization.’
First message of Erdoğan after her release last week, along with linguist Necmiye Alpay and chief editor of Özgür Gündem Zana Bilir Kaya, was that she ‘missed the sea and dancing’
Erdoğan also said the following: “I do not feel myself freer. The permanent impact of this trauma is the realization of the message of the state. I learnt that ‘anything can happen to me and to anyone.’ If this was the message of the State, I’ve got it! A giant shadow of such fear has fallen over me. I’m more fearful compared to before. The problem is not with being jailed; the real pain is being faced with injustice. You try to prove yourself but… This is a great blow! The state is not acting nobly!”
When asked about whether she had expected to be arrested, Erdoğan replied: “When the state of emergency was declared, a sort of worry began just as it was the case with everyone who writes… But I did not see it likely. Because, I was not a political figure. And, as for the Kurdish topic, there are many people much more important than me… So, I could not grasp it!”
Questioning the operations of the government in general, Erdoğan also said ‘I do not think everyone within AKP is content with all that’s going’.