Banned book goes on sale in Istanbul book fair

A book penned by arrested journalist Ahmet Şık, whose manuscripts were seized by police in March, has been published and will be released on the market at the TÜYAP Book Fair in Istanbul today under the title “000Kitap” (000Book).

“‘000Kitap’ is the product of collective efforts by those who insist on freedom of expression and freedom of information rights, despite all oppression, obstructions and bullying,” said a press statement issued by the book’s contributors.

Some 125 journalists, activists and academics worked together to write “000Kitap,” which is based on Ahmet Şık’s seized book “Imamın Ordusu” (The Imam’s Army). “000Kitap,” however, also includes editing work by 125 volunteers.

“‘000Kitap’ was written by one person, typo mistakes were corrected by another, grammar was edited by someone else, punctuation was proofread by another and the final reading was done by someone else. In fact, every writer, thinker and journalist who is or feels behind iron bars, paying the price for defending free speech, has a mark in this book,” the statement said.

The first promotion of the book, which is published by the Postacı Publishing House, will be held at Istanbul’s TÜYAP Book Fair at 3 p.m. today.

Şık was arrested within the scope of the Ergenekon trials, while copies of his book were seized by means of a court order on the grounds that it constituted a “terror organization document.” Digital copies of the book were also erased under police supervision, but some 100,000 people have reportedly downloaded it through the Internet, according to reports.

The Ergenekon group is an alleged ultranationalist, shadowy gang accused of planning to topple the government by staging a coup, initially by spreading chaos and mayhem throughout society.