Acclaimed novelist Elif Safak was acquitted last week after being taking to trial for "insulting Turkishness" when a fictional character described the Armenian genocide in her latest book.
Armenian-Turkish newspaper editor Hrant Dink wasn't so lucky. He received a six-month suspended sentence for talking about the genocide, and faces two more trials for similar charges.
It may look like a battle over freedom of speech. In fact, the defendants say the Armenian Genocide, and the law that bans "insulting Turkishness," have become a political football between Turkish ultranationalists and pre-European politicians.
Anti-Turkish European politicians have entered the fray by passing laws forbidding citizens to deny that a genocide of Armenians took place in 1915.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. 9(MDAzMjM2NDYzMDEyMzc1Njk5NjAxNzY3OQ001))
