Elif Shafak about her trial for being anti-Turkish

Turkish novelist Elif Shafak, 34, has been charged under Article 301 of the Turkish penal code with 'insulting Turkishness' through the fictional dialogue in her bestselling novel 'The Bastard of Istanbul'. She explains to Suna Erdem that this trial is not just about her book, but part of a political effort by extreme nationalists to hamper Turkey's EU aspiration by demonstrating how un-European it is. "I think the biggest worry regarding Article 301 is not that it puts people in prison but it silences them. It means they are now trying to control art, and this is very alarming because in Turkey - a country that witnessed three military takeovers - art and literature had always been autonomous. ... We are seeing a clash between those who wholeheartedly support the EU process, and others who want to turn this society into a xenophobic, isolationist country."

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