The Bastard of Istanbul

Author	Elif Şafak
Country	Turkey
Language	English
Genre	Drama
Publisher	Viking Adult
Publication date	2006
Pages	368
ISBN

The Bastard of Istanbul is a 2006 novel by Turkish bestselling author Elif Şafak, written originally in English and published by Viking Adult. It was translated by Aslı Biçen into her native language Turkish under the title Baba ve Piç in March 2006, and became a bestseller.

The story centers around Asya Kazancı and Armanoush Tchakhmakhchian. It is set in Arizona; San Francisco, California; and Istanbul, Turkey. The novel deals with their families and how they are connected through the history of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. At age nineteen, Armanoush travels secretly to Istanbul to search for her Armenian roots.

The novel was adapted into a theatre play in Italian language by Angelo Savelli titled La Bastarda Di Istanbul, and was staged by Teatro di Rifredi in Florence, Italy. Its premiere took place on March 3, 2015 starring Turkish actress Serra Yılmaz. The play is scheduled to run until March 15.

In June 2006, Kemal Kerinçsiz, a nationalist lawyer, sued Elif Şafak due to allegedly "insulting Turkishness" in her novel by dealing with the Armenian Genocide in the last years of Ottoman Empire. The lawsuit was opened at Istanbul's Beyoglu district court in accordance with Article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code. After the prosecutor dropped the charges due to lack of insult, the lawyer refiled his complaint at a higher court, the Beyoglu 2nd Court of First Instance, in July 2006.

Şafak faced a sentence up to three years in prison for the remarks made in her novel. In September 2006, the court, attended also by Joost Lagendijk, co-chair of the delegation to the EU–Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, acquitted her of criminal charges due to lack of legal grounds for the crime in question and sufficient evidence in the controversial trial.

عربي[لقيطة إسطنبول] محمد درويش

Romania Bastarda Istanbulului by polirom (Bucuresti 2012)

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