The Herald Sun, NC
Aug 18 2005
Imprisoned Duke student free
By Ray Gronberg : The Herald-Sun
[email protected]
Aug 17, 2005 : 8:57 pm ET
DURHAM — A Duke University graduate student is once again a free man
after receiving a suspended sentence from a court in Armenia that found
him guilty of illegally trying to remove old books from the country.
Yektan Turkyilmaz can’t leave Armenia until court officials there
formally file the verdict on Aug. 31. But he is no longer being held
in prison, and may resume the research effort that prompted his visit
to the country.
“I am happy to be free,” Turkyilmaz was quoted as saying in a report
by Armenialiberty.org, a branch of Radio Free Europe. “I now want
to concentrate on my doctoral dissertation. I was, I am and I will
remain a friend of the Armenians.”
Officials at Duke who’ve pressed for the Ph.D. student’s release
welcomed the news.
“We were pleased to hear the news that Yektan Turkyilmaz has been
released from detention … and will be able to return soon to the
United States,” Duke President Richard Brodhead said in a written
statement. “We look forward to welcoming him back to Duke University.”
Turkyilmaz — a scholar from Turkey who is in his fourth year in
Duke’s cultural anthropology department — was in Armenia to conduct
archive research for a dissertation about the political and ethnic
evolution of eastern Turkey in the early 20th century.
The topic is a touchy one because it invariably touches on the question
of genocide. The region in question once was home to many Armenians,
but about 1 million died there in the early years of World War I.
Armenians have insisted that the deaths amounted to genocide, but
Turkish governments have rejected the claim. Relations between the
two countries are frosty; they do not maintain diplomatic relations.
Turkyilmaz — a Kurd considered sympathetic to the Armenian point
of view — was pulled off a plane by authorities on June 17 as he
prepared to leave the country. He was later charged with two counts
of smuggling under a law that bars the export without permission of
books that are more than 50 years old.
Tuesday’s court hearing upheld the seizure of 88 books published
more 50 years ago that Turkyilmaz had purchased from second-hand
book dealers. A judge, however, ordered authorities to return to the
scholar compact discs that contained his research notes.
According to Armenialiberty.org, a prosecutor said the smuggling charge
was “absolutely substantiated,” but agreed that there were mitigating
circumstances. Turkyilmaz received a two-year suspended sentence.
The law in question would have supported a prison sentence of between
four and eight years.
Turkyilmaz’ supporters — including a core group of professors at
Duke and UNC Chapel Hill — have insisted that Armenia’s handling of
the case was extreme compared to the alleged offense. He was held in
a high-security prison and initially was not allowed to communicate
with his family or Duke officials.
Supporters of the Ph.D. student were able to rally assistance from
political leaders who included former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole and U.S.
Rep. David Price, a former Duke professor.
Dole — the husband of Duke alumna and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole —
wrote Armenia’s president, Robert Kocharian, to say that Turkyilmaz’
detention had raised “questions about Armenia’s democratic progress
and commitment to the rule of law.”
Turkyilmaz’ dissertation adviser, Duke professor Orin Starn, traveled
to Armenia to attend the trial and told Armenialiberty.org’s reporters
that Duke officials were “very pleased” by Tuesday’s court decision.
Starn could not be reached for further comment.