Counterfeit book sector declining

ISTANBUL

Hundreds of thousands of pirated books were seized during operations that were carried out in 18 Turkish cities last year. DHA photo

The counterfeited book sector regressed last year in Turkey. According to a written statement made by the Turkish Printing and Publishing Union, book production increased by 12 percent in 2013 and reached 536 million. 

The illegal sector, which was on rise every year, regressed last year for the first time. 

The sale of counterfeit books was close to zero, particularly in the coastal towns, as bookstores were
hanging out signs reading we don’t sell pirate books.

During operations that were carried out in 18 Turkish cities last year, hundreds of thousands of pirated books worth millions of Turkish Liras were seized. 

Writers including Nazan Bekiroğlu, İskender Pala, Elif Şafak, Mustafa Armağan, İlber Ortaylı, Ahmet Batman, Ahmet Ümit, Uğur Koşar, Kahraman Tazeoğlu, Cemalnur Sargut, Sinan Yağmur, Peyami Safa, Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, Canan Karatay and Ayşe Kulin were the authors whose books were pirated and seized most. 

The statement said a total of 121 printing houses, depots and offices were raided in cities such as Istanbul, Adana, Amasya, Balıkesir, Bolu, Denizli, Erzurum, Gaziantep, Isparta, Kahramanmaraş, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Manisa, Mardin, Rize, Şanlıurfa and Tokat. The number of counterfeit books was 226,190. 

The Turkish Printing and Publishing Union Chairman Muharrem Kaşıtoğlu was quoted saying illegal book printers and traders were not found guilty and imprisoned last year. He said the damage accrued by pirated books was over 1 billion liras to the country’s economy.