Freedom and Justice for Sevan Nishanyan International Committee‏

Eschenheimer Anlage 20 A  D – 60318 Frankfurt, Germany

Press Release, March 18, 2014

Sevan Nishanyan—an Armenian intellectual, citizen of Turkey, civic activist and prominent linguist—has been imprisoned in Turkey since January 2, 2014.

The cruel and unreasonable nature of the punishment handed down for this intellectual, the steady deterioration in the conditions of incarceration, and the looming threat of new and escalating charges and trials have prompted a group of civil society organizations’ representatives and intellectuals to come together and form the International Committee for Freedom and Justice for Sevan Nishanyan.

Our committee regards Nishanyan’s prison sentence as a mockery of justice and an unacceptable punitive measure that threatens the people’s right to freedom of thought.

The committee regards Nishanyan’s imprisonment as a clear manifestation of prejudice and malice. This blatant mistreatment is motivated by his being a dissident intellectual who fights against the dubious theories and official historiography generated by the mind-set (to apply that term generously) of the Turkish state.

The International Committee for Freedom and Justice for Sevan Nishanyan calls on Turkish authorities to free Nishanyan immediately and end the campaign of intimidation, harassment, and cruelty directed against him.

The committee calls on international entities and human rights organizations, and appeals to the wider court of public opinion, to condemn and fight for the removal of the coercion and restrictions faced by Sevan Nishanyan, and to campaign for Sevan’s freedom.

The committee calls on all citizens of Turkey to stand by one of their own, an intellectual who has been victimized by the state’s relentless punitive machine, who has defended multiculturalism and fought so that it could prevail and flourish, and who has been an exemplar in this regard for his fellow countrymen and women.

This committee hereby declares that, in solidarity with others of free and strong will, it shall organize numerous events focusing on the Sevan Nishanyan case in Turkey and abroad.

Members of the International Committee for Freedom and Justice for Sevan Niţanyan: Ali Ertem, Ara Baliozian, Atilla Dirim, Attila Tuygan, Baskin Oran, Can Baskent, Dalita Roger-Hacyan, David Gaunt, Dođan Özgüden, Erkan Metin, Erol Ozkoray, Esther Schulz-Goldstein, Fikret Baskaya, Gerayer Koutcharian, Gurgen Khandjyan, Hrant Kasparyan, Hrach Kalsahakian, Hranush Kharatyan, Ibrahim Seven, Ischkhan Chiftjian, Ismail Besikci, Karine Khutikyan, Khatchig Mouradian, Mahmut Konuk, Mesut Tufan, Nadya Uygun, Nurhan Becidyan, Perj Zeytuntsyan, Raffi Hermonn Arax, Ramazan Gezgin, Sait Cetinoglu, Sako Aryan, Seta Papazian, Sevak Artsruni, Sibel Ozbudun, Sirri Sureyya Onder, Taner Akcam, Tessa Hofmann, Tigran Paskevitchyan, Temel Demirer, Tzourou Ira, Vahagn Chakhalyan, Vartan Tashjian, Yalcin Ergundogan, Zeynep Tanbay.

Contacts:

Turkey: Sait Çetinođlu.  Tel: + 905 32 71 84 644; E mail:cetinoglus@gmail.com
Armenia: Sako Aryan.    Tel: + 374 77 79 24 64; E mail:  sakoarian@gmail.com
Middle East: Hrach Kalsahakian. Tel: + 971 50 614 4787; E mail: kalsahakian@gmail.com
Germany: Ali Ertem.      Tel: +49 69 59 70 813; E mail:skd@gmx.net
France: Séta Papazian.    Tel: + 33 1 77 62 70 77; E mail:comitedesoutien@collectifvan.org
United States. Nadya Uygun.  Tel: + 1 239 304 18 49; E mail: nad0910@hotmail.com