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Court Discusses Omnibus Law Limiting Publication Of 'Risale-I Nur'

25.11.2014 17:47

The Constitutional Court discussed a new omnibus law that prevents the publication of the “Risale-i Nur” collection written by prominent Islamic scholar Bediüzzaman Said Nursi on Monday following an application for the nullification of the law by the Republican People's Party (CHP) on Nov. 12.The omnibus law, which was initially prepared to solve the problems of mine workers and the families of the 301 miners who died in the Soma mine accident on May 13, prevents publishing houses wanting to print the “Risale-i Nur” collection from doing so because they are not the legal heirs of the author. The top court discussed the omnibus law in its session on Monday afternoon, but has made no announcement on the matter as of yet.Objecting to the government's move to expropriate the “Risale-i Nur” collection -- which had been widely published until the Ministry of Culture and Tourism stopped issuing ISBN numbers to publishing houses in April -- CHP parliamentary group chairman Akif Hamzaçebi said

The Constitutional Court discussed a new omnibus law that prevents the publication of the “Risale-i Nur” collection written by prominent Islamic scholar Bediüzzaman Said Nursi on Monday following an application for the nullification of the law by the Republican People's Party (CHP) on Nov. 12.

The omnibus law, which was initially prepared to solve the problems of mine workers and the families of the 301 miners who died in the Soma mine accident on May 13, prevents publishing houses wanting to print the “Risale-i Nur” collection from doing so because they are not the legal heirs of the author. The top court discussed the omnibus law in its session on Monday afternoon, but has made no announcement on the matter as of yet.

Objecting to the government's move to expropriate the “Risale-i Nur” collection -- which had been widely published until the Ministry of Culture and Tourism stopped issuing ISBN numbers to publishing houses in April -- CHP parliamentary group chairman Akif Hamzaçebi said on Nov. 12 that such a decision is against freedom of expression and property rights.

According to Hamzaçebi, by changing the legislation, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has been trying to ease the process of expropriation, which is a violation of property rights as protected by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Hamzaçebi further argued that the government is aiming to apply censorship with such a revision of the intellectual property law.

The printing of the collection has been halted since April of this year due to an alleged dispute over the work's copyright status. ISBN numbers for the collection have not been granted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to publishing houses which intend to print the “Risale-i Nur,” claiming they are not allowed to publish it because they are not Nursi's legal heirs.

According to several media outlets, the ministry prepared an enactment for that purpose and sent it to the Cabinet for approval. If it is approved and turned into a decree with the power of law by the Cabinet, the Religious Affairs Directorate will be the sole body allowed to publish the “Risale-i Nur.”

Kazım Güleçyüz, editor-in-chief of the Yeni Asya daily, which represents one branch of the Nur movement founded by Nursi, believes handing the publication rights of the work to the Religious Affairs Directorate is a clear indication of the AK Party government's autocratic stance.

The “Risale-i Nur” collection is a tafsir (exegesis) of the Quran that explains the truths of faith in accordance with modern science. The collection, which consists of 14 books, was written between the 1910s and 1950s in Turkey. It has been translated into dozens of languages. Nursi, the author of the “Risale-i Nur” collection, faced state pressure during his life and his books were often banned by the regime. More than 27 million copies of the collection have been published freely by many publishing houses since the death of Nursi.

Legal heir of Nursi says state monopoly on ‘Risale-i Nur' unacceptable

Seyda Ünlükul, the grandson of Nursi's brother and one of the author's legal heirs, said a state monopoly on the publication of “Risale-i Nur” is unacceptable as it will reduce the number of prints and will make it difficult to publish it in other languages.

Objecting to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's plan to allow the Religious Affairs Directorate to be the sole body allowed to publish the “Risale-i Nur” collection, Ünlükul said Nursi wanted the state to print the collection but never wanted it to be the sole authority on the books.

According to Ünlükul, there should be consensus on the content of the “Risale-i Nur” collection among the heirs, publishers and academics and the collections could be printed by all publishers to spread the teachings of Nursi.

Stating that the “Risale-i Nur” collection has been translated into more than 130 languages around the world, Ünlükul asked whether the Religious Affairs Directorate would be able to carry out the work of publishing and distributing the collection around the world. Ünlükul said, as the legal heirs of Nursi, they do not want the collection to be under a state monopoly and that the government's act of preventing publishers from printing the collections since April has disturbed them greatly.

Adding that they appreciate the efforts of the Religious Affairs Directorate to print and distribute the “Risale-i Nur” collection in the future, Ünlükul said those publishers who wish to print and distribute the collection as they did before should also be allowed to do so.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)



 
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