The Frankfurt book fair opened on Tuesday (Oct 18) with a plea for Turkey to release acclaimed author and rights activist Asli Erdogan, jailed along with other journalists in a post-coup crackdown.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz, in a speech at the annual fair’s opening ceremony, said he stood in “full solidarity” with the novelist, “and all authors and journalists languishing in Turkish jails”.

“Hear my clear appeal to the Turkish government: set these people free,” he said.

At the same ceremony, the head of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association Heinrich Riethmueller read out a letter from Erdogan he said had been smuggled out of her Istanbul prison. Read more