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Harold Pinter, ‘didn’t suffer fools gladly’ |
‘How Pinter stood up for my father, a victim of army junta’
Academic recalls playwright’s protest against torture in Turkish prisons
A LEADING figure in Islington’s Turkish community paid tribute this week to dramatist Harold Pinter for supporting his father and speaking out against political torture.
Dr Mehmet Ali Dikerdem remembered with fondness how during a visit to Turkey in the 1980s Pinter, who died last month, and the late American playwright Arthur Miller raised the issue of the imprisonment and torture of writers.
The playwrights brought to the world’s attention the plight of Dr Dikerdem’s father Mahmut, a victim of a show trial staged by the military junta.
A former ambassador, Mahmut, who had spent four years in prison, was the chief defendant in the trial.
Dr Dikerdem arranged the visit by the dramatists in 1985 on behalf of PEN, an international writers’ association.
The Middlesex University academic said: “Pinter’s robust defence of the TPA [Turkish Peace Association] got him and Miller ejected from a banquet in honour of the visiting PEN delegation at the US embassy in Ankara.”
Writing about the incident later, Pinter said: “I had hardly taken my first bite at the hors d’oeuvres when I found myself in the middle of a ferocious row with the US political counsellor about the existence of torture in Turkish prisons.”
Arthur Miller in his after-dinner speech was no less outspoken. “In Turkey, hundreds of people are in prison for their thoughts,” he said. “This persecution is supported and subsidised by the United States. Where does that leave our understanding of democratic values?”
After dinner, Pinter was cornered by the American ambassador, who pleaded for some understanding of the situation in Turkey, explaining that things were getting better and that at least the problems were being discussed.
“Mr Pinter, you don’t seem to understand the realities of the situation here,” he said. “Don’t forget, the Russians are just over the border. You have to bear in mind the political reality, the diplomatic reality, the military reality.”
Pinter gave no quarter. “The reality I’ve been referring to is that of electric current on your genitals,” he said. At which point the ambassador, Robert Strausz-Hupé, turned on his heels, but not before ordering Pinter out of his house.
Dr Dikerdem said: “Pinter didn’t suffer fools gladly and spoke his mind. He was very passionate and precise. Miller could also look at you and weigh you up straight away.”
Mahmut was finally cleared of any wrong-doing in a 1991 amnesty. He died aged 78 in 1993.
Dr Dikerdem said: “The event brought worldwide attention to a cruel system of torture. Although some things have changed, human rights abuses, particularly against the Kurds, are still a big issue in Turkey.” |
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