“The Turkish government continues its persecution of me,” denounces sociologist Pinar Selek on trial in Istanbul

Acquitted four times of an attack charge by the Turkish regime, Pinar Selek is being tried again in Istanbul on Friday June 28.

“The situation is serious, the Turkish government continues its relentlessness against me” reacts Friday June 28 on France Culture, Pinar Selek, sociologist accused of terrorism by the Turkish state for 26 years. A new hearing opened on Friday June 28 in Istanbul with the appearance of a new document which calls into question certain activities of the figure in the fight for human rights in Turkey: “The Turkish government is taking a step, I think, by now attacking our university activities here in France.”she explained.

Pinar Selek works at the Côte d’Azur University in Nice thanks to the National Emergency Reception Program for Scientists and Artists in Exile (PAUSE). She obtained a position as a teacher-researcher in 2022 and has focused her research on oppressed groups and minorities.

The Turkish Interior Ministry has filed a document in the court file claiming that a conference hosted by Pinar Selek in Nice on April 11, 2024, was organized by the PKK. “This is obviously false, but also slanderous. It was a conference organized by my laboratory”she explained. “They are not giving up any maneuver to intimidate me and encourage me to refrain from doing my job”she added.

The Franco-Turkish sociologist has been prosecuted for 26 years for having organized an attack. Experts have determined that the explosion was accidental. Pinar Selek, who denounced a fabricated case, was acquitted four times.

Imprisoned and tortured in Turkish prisons, the sociologist found refuge in France in 2011. A day of solidarity will take place this Friday at Lyon City Hall in her presence. “I reread Kafka’s Trial the other day. I came across a sentence which says ‘the verdict does not come all at once, it is the procedure which gradually turns into a verdict’. Me and my friends and my supporters, my university, the French Academy, my colleagues, my publishers, all my friends, we are doing everything to transform this verdict into a victory against all fascisms.”she explained.

Acquitted several times, Pinar Selek fears that the verdict will be reversed, but the international solidarity that is being organized around her gives her hope: “They think they are really going to intimidate the French University. There are lots of people who are going to go to Istanbul. I believe that international solidarity is a greater antidote against fascism in this world”she assured.