Book fair honors Turkish writers
Turkey will be the featured country at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2008, a choice that could invite controversy after two recent court cases raised questions about freedom of expression in the European Union candidate.
Turkish publishers consider the honor a chance to shift the spotlight from the 2006 court cases to its cultural heritage and the 20,000 books published each year in the country.
“We hope this transition phase will be faster and maybe by 2008 we will not talk about these issues any more,” Hayati Bayrak, president of the Turkish publishers association, said in an interview Thursday.
“We are in favor of freedom of expression,” Bayrak added. “Those authors who were in court, you can find their books and their pictures here at our stand now.”
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