Istanbul Armenian Linguist Publishes Story of his Imprisonment and Prison Break in Turkey

• 07.22.2017, 21:41
•  Region,  Diaspora

Istanbul Armenian writer and linguist Sevan Nișanyan has published in his blog the story of his 3.5-year imprisonment in Turkey and his prison break.  

In his book the author tells that his lifestyle wasn’t approved by the prison administration and he was moved to a closed prison a month later, Arevelk reports.

In the closed Buja prison the renowned linguist shares a prison ward designed for 40 people with 120 prisoners. He is then moved to Şakran closed prison, where he spends one month in one ward with Diyarbakır landowner and his accomplice convicted to 56 years in prison for mass slaughter. In July 2014, Nișanyan is moved to Aydin Yenipazar closed prison. Here he is placed in a single-person ward and provided with the opportunity to use computer and Internet for 6 hours five days per week.

In these conditions, he works for 14 years on his dictionary, studying hundreds of Turkish and Ottoman sources. During the time, the criminal cases against the linguist continue and his punishment reaches first 11 and then 17 years.

Upon moving to Söke open prison in August 2015, Nișanyan gets the right to a one-week vacation. The second of that vacation corresponded with his birthday. “I decided to organize a party for my friends and relatives. I don’t know from where a dancer and a journalist appeared—I don’t know why they were there—and took a photo of us. And someone unremarkable, who I don’t know why lives, enlarged the photo and published it in the corner of his newspaper.”

A few weeks later, Nișanyan is “caught” when using a computer and his Internet is disconnected. He is then again moved to a closed prison, where he receives various disciplinary punishments. In March 2016 he is moved to Menemen closed prison, where the work on his book in the form of letters addressed to his younger daughter Anahit saves him from depression.

Thanks to the amendments to the law made in February 2017, Nișanyan is moved to Foça open prison. Finally, his patience runs out. He realizes that nobody is going to release him. Moreover, new criminal cases are being brought against him for certain statements he made on TV years ago, the period of punishment gradually extending.

“Actually, two years ago it was already clear that this was to be the end of all this. I was ready to escape back in 2015 but my friends urged me to wait still for a while. In reality, if you want to make an abrupt step, you should never listen to the advice of clever people. One should be a little crazy for such a step and not think much about the beginning and end,” the linguist writes.