Turkish teenager detained for reading poem
Turkish authorities have detained and questioned a teenager who read a poem by Nazim Hikmet, whose works were once banned in the country, at a school poetry reading, reports said today.
The 17-year-old boy, identified only by his initials CC, was detained and taken away by police after reading Hikmet’s poem at his school in Milas, western Turkey. He was questioned and released three hours later, without any charges, the Anatolia news agency said.
Hikmet, Turkey’s best known poet whose works have been translated into more than 50 languages, considered himself a communist. He spent 15 years in Turkish prisons – where he wrote some of his best known poems – was stripped of his nationality and branded a traitor. Authorities for a time banned his poetry.
The boy’s detention comes despite Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union, which is pressuring the country to end practices that curb freedom of expression. The country is scheduled to start EU membership talks on October 3.
The Interior Ministry said today it had launched an investigation into why the boy was detained.
Hikmet’s poems were smuggled out of Turkey and published abroad, bringing him international fame.
The ban on his poetry was lifted in 1965, although many in Turkey continued to read his poetry in secret out of fear of being branded communists.
Turkey has since liberalised many of the tough laws curbing freedom of expression as part of its EU membership drive, but some authorities still aggressively act against those suspected of activities against the state.
Hikmet died in exile in Moscow in 1963.
