In memory of the Kurdish writer Mehmed Uzun

EUTCC
11 October 2007
Press Release: For immediate release
In memory of the Kurdish writer Mehmed Uzun
1953-2007
EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC) has received the sad message that the dear, prominent and internationally recognised Kurdish writer has died today in Diyarbakir.
Mehmet Uzun was born in 1953 in Siverek in North Kurdistan (Turkey). In 1972, at the age of 17, Uzun was arrested and taken to the military prison in Diyarbakir, Released pending trail; he fled to Syria. He stayed in Damascus for a year, before travelling on to Sweden where he acquired refugee status in 1977. Mehmet Uzun worked to create a modern literary structure for Kurdish.
Mehmet Uzun has been a long-time member of the Swedish Writers Union’s executive board. He participated actively in the Swedish Pen Club and the International Pen Club. He was a member of the advisory council of the International Writers’ Parliament. Mehmet Uzun has written seven novels in Kurdish which have been translated into many languages.
In January 2000, Uzun was allowed to visit Turkey after 23 year of exile. More than six thousand people greeted him in Diyarbakir. Over the years his work has faced censorship and restrictions in Turkey, but has been internationally recognised and translated into more than 20 languages.
In 2001, he received the Thought and Expression Freedom Award from the Turkish Publishers’ Union, the Literature Prize from the Berlin Kurdish Institute because of his contributions to the art of the novel and the Torgny Segerstedt Freedom of the Pen Award which is one of the most important Scandinavian awards. In 2002 he received the Stina-Erik Lundberg prize from the Swedish Academy because of his valuable contributions to Swedish cultural life.
In 2005 Mehmet received the message that he suffered from cancer. Not long after he took the existential decision to return to his homeland.
Receiving the sad message about his death the chair of the EUTCC Kariane Westrheim stated:
“Mehmet Uzun was a good friend and supporter of the EUTCC. He was one of the key speakers at the Second International Conference in 2005, just before he became ill. He was patron to the conference in 2006 along with Archbishop Desmund Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador Bianca Jagger, Nobel Literature Prize Laureate Harold Pinter and writer Noam Chomsky. Mehmet Uzun was a wonderful person and a good dialogue partner. His tireless work for the Kurds will live forever and stand as a monument of his memory.”
Until his very last moments he worked on an important text on the German Jew Erich Auerbach, who was exiled in Turkey. Mehmet Uzuns fragmented scripts on Auerbach's book "Mimesis" present to the world an most important reflection on modern literature theory. Kariane Westrheim
EU Turkey Civic Commission
EU Turkey Civic Commission (www.eutcc.org)
Tel: +45 97642088 Kariane.westrheim@gmail.com
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