CEATL - Maison des Auteurs - Rue du Prince royal 87 - 1050 Bruxelles - Belgium
Conseil Européen des Associations de Traducteurs Littéraires
On 24 November 2016, the first hearing was held in the case against the translator Necmiye Alpay, the author Aslı Erdoğan and other members of the advisory board of the now banned newspaper Özgür Gündem. The hearing took place in the court house in Çağlayan, Istanbul.
Aslı Erdoğan was arrested on 19 August 2016 and Necmiye Alpay on 31 August 2016. →
On 31 August 2016, Turkish translator, editor, critic, author and linguist Necmiye Alpay (70) was arrested. Alpay is a member of the Turkish Association of Translators (ÇEVBİR (http://cevbir NULL.org NULL.tr/)).
Alpay received her BA degree from Ankara University, and her Ph.D. degree from Paris University at Nanterre. →
On 15 February 2016 a group of academics, authors and translators published an open letter to urge translators to not support the Qatari regime and to withdraw from the Seventh International Translation Conference (http://tii NULL.qa/conference-registration), which will be held on 28-29 March 2016.
The letter argues that while trying to create an image of being an oasis of creativity and freedom – using awards and translations of Arabic literature as instruments to strengthen this image – Qatar has kept the poet Muhammad Al-Ajami (widely known as Ibn al-Dheeb) imprisoned. →
CEATL recently sent a letter to the Turkish minister of Culture and Tourism and the minister of Justice to express its concern about the restriction of the freedom of expression of translators and publishers in Turkey.
The reason for this letter is a law case against the Turkish translator and publisher of the novel Les exploits d’un jeune Don Juan by French author Guillaume Apollinaire on the charges of dissemination of an obscene text. →
On Tuesday 17 December 2013 there was another hearing in the court case against the translator and the publisher of the Turkish edition of Apollinaire’s novel Les exploits d’un jeune Don Juan.
The case started in 2010, when the translator İsmail Yerguz and publisher İrfan Sancı of publishing house Sel Yayınları were accused of contributing to the dissemination of an obscene work. →
In a decree (http://www NULL.bundesverfassungsgericht NULL.de/entscheidungen/rs20131023_1bvr184211 NULL.html) published on 28 November and summarized in an accompanying press release (http://www NULL.bundesverfassungsgericht NULL.de/pressemitteilungen/bvg13-071 NULL.html), the German Federal Constitutional Court (BGH) rejected an appeal by the publishing house Hanser-Verlag against the decision of the Federal Supreme Court (BGH) relating to the remuneration of literary translators and their underlying terms under copyright contract law. →
The reopened leagal case against the Turkish translator and publisher of Apollinaire’s novel Les Exploits d’un Jeune Don Juan by Guillaume Apollinaire continues.
In 2009 İsmail Yerguz’ Turkish translation of the novel, Genç Bir Don Juan’ın Maceraları, was issued by publishing house Sel Yayıncılık. A year later both the translator and the publishing house, represented by İrfan Sancı, were brought to court on charges of aiding the publication of obscene texts. →
In 2010 charges were filed against translator İsmail Yerguz and Istanbul based publishing house Sel Yayınları for their assistance to spread obscene texts. The books at stake were the Turkish editions of the two French novels: ‘Correspondance d’une Bourgeoise Avertie’ (Görgülü ve Bilgili bir Burjuva Kadının Mektupları) by P.V. and ‘Les Exploits d’un Jeune Don Juan’ (Genç Bir Don Juan’ın Maceraları) by Guillaume Apollinaire. →
Ayşe Berktay, a translator, writer and activist in Turkey, will be awarded the 2013 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. Ayşe Berktay, a member of the Turkish association of Translators (ÇEVBİR), was arrested on 14 September 2011 and is currently being tried for ‘membership in an illegal organisation’ for her pro-Kurdish cultural advocacy. →
98 subtitlers have resigned from Broadcast Text International in Finland after having been outsourced there by MTV Media, a major commercial broadcasting company.
On October 1st, 110 subtitlers working under freelance contracts were outsourced to BTI International, a subsidiary of Broadcast Text International. According to Finnish law, outsourced employees have a right to resign without notice during the first month after the deal – 98 subtitlers chose to use that right. →
Two years ago, in August 2010, the German website of Amazon published a remarkable ‘customer review’ (http://www NULL.amazon NULL.de/product-reviews/1844846482/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending) of Arturo Graf’s Satan, Beelzebub and Lucifer: The Devil in Art, published by Parkstone International / Kroemer (May 2009):
‘The text written by Arturo Graf, a literary figure from the late 19th century, is wonderful – full of hidden irony, a literary cabaret of the first order. →
On 8 July another hearing took place at an Istanbul court in the two court cases started last year (http://www NULL.ceatl NULL.eu/?p=2055) against two translators and their publishers. One case concerns the translation and publication of the novel The Soft Machine by William Burroughs, translated by Mr Süha Sertabiboğlu and published by Sel Yayınları. →
Plagiarism of translations is still one of the problems haunting the Turkish book market. It is particularly widespread among publications of the classics, popular novels of nineteenth century French and Russian authors such as War and Peace by Tolstoy, Dead Souls by Gogol or Flaubert’s Madame Bovary . Nearly all classic novels are published by more than one publishing house – for instance there are at least twelve editions of War and Peace available. →
The Finnish Supreme Court set a significant precedent concerning copyright on 4 November 2011. The case involved the publication of a book translation as a Loisto pocketbook without the translator’s permission. The case had been pending since 2006, when the translator filed suit against WSOY and Taskukirja Loisto Oy in the district court. →
This is a press release from our Turkish member organisation, Çevbir (http://www NULL.cevbir NULL.org/).
Turkey is currently witnessing a period as dark as that of the oppressive regimes which have left so many scars on its history. →
Two court cases are pending for a hearing at Istanbul’s Second Penal Court of Peace. In each case proceedings are started against a Turkish publisher and a translator of a recently published foreign literary work:
The office of the Attorney General of Istanbul recently started legal investigations concerning Yumuşak Makine (http://www NULL.selyayincilik NULL.com/kitaptanitim NULL.asp?kod=697), the translation of William Burroughs’ novel The Soft Machine, translated into Turkish by Mr. Süha Sertabiboğlu, and published by publishing house Sel in Istanbul.
Notwithstanding the literary acknowledgement William Burroughs has received all over the world, the Prime Minister’s Council for the Protection of Children from Harmful Publications decided in a report, issued on the request of Istanbul’s Attorney General, that The Soft Machine had no literary value. →
The rulings concerning the verdict of German Federal Court in the translator remuneration dispute (http://www NULL.ceatl NULL.eu/new-german-federal-court-verdict/) that has been occupying the German publishing scene since the 2002 amendment to German copyright law, have recently been made available.
In brief, appropriate and reasonable remuneration for literary translation is as follows:
The German Federal Court has pronounced a new verdict in the ‘translator remuneration dispute’ (http://www NULL.ceatl NULL.eu/german-federal-court-verdict/) that has been occupying the German publishing scene since the 2002 amendment to German copyright law. A first reaction from the German literary translators’ association, VdÜ, can be found on the Buchreport (http://www NULL.buchreport NULL.de/nachrichten/verlage/verlage_nachricht/datum/2011/01/20/das-urteil-ersetzt-keine-verguetungsregel NULL.htm) website (in German). →
On 7 December 2010 İrfan Sancı of Turkish publishing house Sel Yayınları and translator İsmail Yerguz were acquitted from charges of publishing/translating obscene books. The books at stake in the court case that was instituted earlier this year involved a Turkish work entitled Perinin sarkacı by Ben Mila, and two works translated from French by İsmail Yerguz: Genç Bir Don Juan’ın Maceraları (‘Les exploits d’un jeune Don Juan’) written by Guillaume Apollinaire, and Görgülü ve Bilgili bir Burjuva Kadının Mektupları (‘Correspondance d’une Bourgeoise Avertie’) by P.V. →