Ayşe Nur Zarakolu

Ayşe Nur Zarakolu (; 9 May 1946 – 28 January 2002) was a Turkish author, publisher and human rights advocate. She was co-founder, with her husband Ragıp Zarakolu, of notable Turkish publishing house Belge and, in the 1980s, became the director of book-distribution company Cemmay, the first woman in the nation to hold such a position. Zarakolu's publications brought her into frequent conflict with Turkish press laws; in 1997, The New York Times identified Zarakolu as "one of the most relentless challengers to Turkey's press laws". Issues Zarakolu helped publicize in Turkey include the Armenian genocide and human rights of Kurdish people in Turkey. Imprisoned multiple times for her publications, she was designated a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International and her legacy continued to face legal challenge in Turkey after her death. She has received multiple awards and honors for her work and the Human Rights Association of Turkey bestows the Ayşe Zarakolu Freedom of Thought prize in her honor.

Biography She was born Ayşe Nur Sarısözen on 9 May 1946 in Antakya. A sociologist by education, she entered publishing in 1968 before moving to Istanbul University in 1970 as head librarian at the Institute of Financial Studies. Zarakolu wed Ragıp Zarakolu and mothered two children. Before her death of cancer in Istanbul on 28 January 2002, Zarakolu became a notable author, publisher, and human rights advocate. In 1976 or 1977, Zarakolu and her husband launched a publishing house, Belge (translated "The Document"), which published books on history and politics, as well as poetry,

Legal battles Zarakolu focused attention to the situations and histories of Kurds in Turkey, Armenians in Turkey and Greeks in Turkey. Some specific publications by Belge in Turkey that were subjects of controversy include the poems of Mehdi Zana, Les Arméniens: histoire d'un génocide (The Armenians: history of a genocide) by Yves Ternon, The Forty Days of Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel, several books by İsmail Beşikçi, and the essays of Lissy Schmidt, a German journalist who had died while covering conditions in Iraqi Kurdistan. Imprisoned for her publications four times, Zarakolu was named a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. In a letter dated 2001, Zarakolu expressed her belief that "The way to prevent yet more genocides, yet more tragedies from happening is through the communal experience of expressing heartfelt repentance for the shame of what has gone before", also indicating that "As far as I am concerned, I have done my duty. I have done something that everyone should do.... And I shall continue to do so, right through to that supreme moment."

After her death in 2002, Zarakolu faced additional charges for publishing the books Pontos Kültürü by Ömer Asan and The Song of Liberty by Hüseyin Turhallı, but charges were eventually dropped. Her son, Deniz Zarakolu, was charged for "inciting revenge or hatred, which could cause people to become dangerous for each other" as a result of the speech he made at her funeral, but he was later acquitted. Received the 1997 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award.

Legacy The İHD bestows in her memory the "Ayşe Zarakolu Freedom of Thought" prize.

In 2007, the metropolitan municipality of Diyarbakır in southeastern Turkey named the "Ayşenur Zarakolu Free Women's Park Forest" on Dicle Kent Boulevard in her honor. However, they were required to rename the park when the province governor's office objected to the name. The matter was brought before the Regional Administrative Court, which forbid the naming on the grounds that Zarakolu "supported separatist ideas and spread terrorist propaganda both in her own books and in the books she published", though her husband later noted that both the article under which she was convicted and the court that convicted her have been abolished.