Speaking Out for Freedom to Write

The Open Society Institute's Turkmenistan Project hosted a briefing, "Speaking Out for Freedom to Write," with Turkmen writer Rakhim Esenov. Erika Dailey, Turkmenistan Project director, introduced the event. Laura Wolfson served as Esenov's interpreter.

Esenov received the 2006 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, which honors international literary figures who have been persecuted or imprisoned for exercising or defending the right to freedom of expression. Two years ago, Esenov was arrested after being accused of smuggling 800 copies of his banned books into Turkmenistan from Russia. Since then the government had prohibited him from leaving the country despite U.S. pressure.

Esenov is a 78-year-old novelist, historian, and Radio Free Europe correspondent. His trilogy Ventsenosny Skitalets (The Crowned Wanderer) is set in the 16th-century Mogul Empire and centers on Bayram Khan, a poet, philosopher, and army general who is said to have saved Turkmenistan from fragmentation. The book was banned by President Saparmurad Niyazov, who publicly denounced it as “historically inaccurate” in 1997, apparently for correctly portraying Khan as a Shia rather than a Sunni Muslim, an offense that carries a four-year prison sentence under the Turkmen Criminal Code.

Esenov was charged with “inciting social, national, and religious hatred using the mass media” and imprisoned despite his frail health. He was later released after submitting a written guarantee to remain in Turkmenistan. However the charges against him were not dropped, and the results of an investigation are still pending.

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The Open Forum speaker series aims to enhance policy debate on key issues facing Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and the Middle East, and to raise public awareness of important developments in these regions. Monthly Open Forum events are held in New York and Washington, DC, and are attended by leading policymakers, scholars, NGO staff, and journalists. All events are free of charge.