Last year, right around this time, Ragip Zarakolu was in Armenia at the invitation of European Armenian Federation. He came to Civilitas and met with fellow writers, publishers and students to speak about his work as a publisher, and a human rights activist. For him, the two have been inseparable. The books that his Belge Publishing House have produced over the last two decades are books which describe the abrogation of human rights for various groups – Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, and others, who continue to suffer from the Turkish government’s inability to enter the modern era.
Turks suffer too. The Zarakolu family is a prime example. Ragip’s wife Ayse died nearly a decade ago, as a result of deteriorating health in Turkey’s prisons. Ragip himself looks older than his xx years, probably for the same reason. Now, their son Deniz, a professor of political thought, is in prison with a few dozen others. Their struggle with the Turkish government is for their own sake, not ours. But Armenians will only receive the necessary satisfaction from the Turkish authorities when those same authorities find ways to respect the thoughts, deeds and convictions of Turkey’s human rights and freedoms defenders. CivilNet.TV is speaking to several of those engaged in this struggle, and is committed to making their voices heard.