The story of a Turkish intellectual’s escape from prison
After years of controversy and trials, Armenian intellectual Sevan Nisanyan dropped a bombshell on Twitter, announcing his escape from a prison in Turkey.
The Turkish Twitter-sphere went abuzz July 14 with a post that read, "The bird has flown away. Wishing the same for the remaining 80 million." The tweet belonged to ethnic Armenian linguist and writer Sevan Nisanyan, who had been behind bars since January 2014. True to his flamboyant style, Nisanyan had chosen Twitter to announce he had escaped from prison and was a free person again.
For years, Nisanyan stood out as a colorful individual on Turkey's intellectual scene. A Yale and Columbia University alumnus, he is the author of a prominent etymological dictionary and travel guides, but the book that made him a truly controversial figure was the "Wrong Republic," which questioned taboos about the Turkish Republic and its founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, infuriating secular and nationalist Turks. With his blunt criticism of religion, he also drew the wrath of pious Turks as well.
