Turkish novelist Aslı Erdoğan gets passport back

ISTANBUL - Agence France-Presse

AFP photo

Turkish authorities have returned novelist Aslı Erdoğan’s passport and she is expected to travel to Europe soon, more than two months after her travel ban was lifted, her lawyer said on Sept. 8.

Erdoğan, one of the country’s leading contemporary novelists, was given her passport on Sept. 7, her lawyer Erdal Doğan told AFP.

This means she can now start the paperwork to obtain visas for Europe and receive her multiple literary awards, Doğan added.

“She can now travel but first she must get her visa,” he said.

Erdoğan was expected in Germany to be awarded the Erich Maria Remarque Peace Prize this month, according to literary freedom group Pen International.

She was arrested last summer and kept in jail for 132 days on charges of carrying out “terror propaganda” in a probe into the now-closed daily Özgür Gündem, which Ankara condemned as a mouthpiece for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

She was released in December 2016 but as her charges were ongoing, she was given a travel ban, hindering her from participating in five award ceremonies abroad up until now.

The travel ban was lifted by a court order on June 22.