Oral Çalışlar
Oral Çalışlar is a Turkish journalist and writer, currently columnist for Radikal and Serbestiyet, after briefly working as editor-in-chief of Taraf. He was previously a columnist for Cumhuriyet and Radikal. In the 1960s he participated in the student movement and contributed to Aydınlık, and was imprisoned for 3 years after the 1971 Turkish coup d'état. He became editor of Aydınlık in 1978 and was imprisoned again after the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, eventually being released in 1988. In 1993 he interviewed two personalities of the Kurdish left-wing politics, Abdullah Öcalan, the founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party and Kemal Burkay the chairman of the Socialist Party of Kurdistan for eighteen days. The publications of the interviews later within a book about the Kurdish question in 1993, led to his conviction for 2 years for separatist propaganda, a verdict he appealed. After several trials concerning the book, he was sentenced for 13 months imprisonment on grounds that he disseminated separatist propaganda. Also this verdict he appealed. Later he was an activist in defense of the freedom of expression. He is the author of around 20 books.
