Necmiye Alpay

Renowned Turkish linguist Necmiye Alpay and former European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judge Rıza Türmen were among the participants of the main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) justice march from Ankara to Istanbul on July 4, its 20th day. 

A court on June 22 lifted foreign travel bans imposed on one of Turkey's leading contemporary novelists, Aslı Erdoğan, and linguist Necmiye Alpay after they were put on trial on charges of "supporting terrorist groups." 

The move by the Istanbul court will allow Erdoğan to travel abroad and receive prizes she has been unable to collect due the ban.

Prominent Turkish journalist Hasan Cemal has been convicted on charges of conducting "terror propaganda" due to a 2016 article regarding one of the leading figures of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), receiving a suspended sentence of one year, three months in jail.

One of Turkey's most prominent novelists, Aslı Erdoğan, has said she "is still worried and cannot feel free," despite her release after being held in prison for 136 days in the case into the shuttered daily Özgür Gündem on terror charges.

An Istanbul court on Jan. 13 sentenced musician Şanar Yurdatapan to one year and three months in prison in a case for participating in the "Editor-in-Chief on Duty" solidarity campaign with the now closed daily Özgür Gündem, marking the first conviction in the case.

I tried to enter the New Year with hope and joy. 

Two significant, esteemed and treasured people of the literature world, writer Aslı Erdoğan and writer and linguist Necmiye Alpay have been freed from prison. We wish the same for the rest of the literary and press world. 

One of Turkey's most prominent contemporary novelists and an internationally prominent linguist who has also made widely praised translations of Western novels into Turkish were released on probation on Dec. 29 after being arrested on charges of "making terrorist propaganda" for daily Özgür Gündem, which was closed in August on terrorism charges.

A case into daily Özgür Gündem's editors-in-chief on duty continued on Nov. 24, with the case being postponed until Feb. 14, 2017, against a number of arrested and non-arrested journalists.
A total of 16 names are being tried on terror charges as part of an investigation into the closed daily.

An Istanbul court on Nov. 23 ordered the release of imprisoned novelist Aslı Erdoğan and linguist Necmiye Alpay, who were both arrested on terror charges as part of an investigation into closed daily Özgür Gündem, on one charge but ruled for the continuation of their arrest on another charge. 

Turkish novelist Aslı Erdoğan and linguist Necmiye Alpay were released on Nov. 23 after being arrested on terror charges as part of an investigation into columnists and managers of the closed daily Özgür Gündem.