An assistant professor in the University of Arizona's department of Near Eastern studies is facing criminal charges in Turkey for "insulting Turkishness" in a novel she wrote.
The charges against Elif Shafak, filed under the Turkish Criminal Code, stem from her recently released book "The Bastard of Istanbul," in which a character refers to the killing of Armenians in World War I as genocide, according to The New Anatolian, an English-language newspaper in Turkey.
Shafak, a well-known and celebrated author in Turkey, wrote "The Bastard of Istanbul" while she was in Tucson. She's taught at UA for two years but is living in Turkey on a one-year leave.
"For any author to suffer through this is just terrible and she is pregnant right now, so I am very concerned about her well-being," said Anne H. Betteridge, director of the UA's Center for Middle Eastern Studies. "It seems there is just a serious program of intimidation under way by right-wing forces in Turkey."
