As of: 05/13/2022 8:07 p.m
The journalist Yücel has resigned from his position as president of the writers’ association PEN. A motion to vote him out had previously failed. The background is internal quarrels in the leadership of the PEN center.
The journalist Deniz Yücel has surprisingly resigned as German PEN President. “I don’t want to be president of this bratwurst stand,” said Yücel at the general meeting in Gotha. At the same time, Yücel announced that he was leaving the writers’ association.
A motion against the journalist to be voted out of office had previously been rejected at the general meeting of the writers’ association. Of the 161 valid votes cast, 75 voted against removing the President. The result was extremely close: 73 members had voted for his deselection.
“I don’t need it”
The executive committee, headed by 48-year-old Yücel, was only elected last October and recently made headlines with heated arguments and power struggles. The management style of the top ranks led to major distortions in the ranks of the members, which came to light in an extremely heated debate at the general meeting.
The application to have the PEN President voted out of office was a novelty in the association’s recent history. Regarding the disputes within the Presidium, Yücel said: “I don’t need it – take it or leave it, PEN.”
insults and accusations of bullying
The conflicts are essentially about insults, allegations of bullying and the tone of conversation. In Gotha, members expressed concern that the trench warfare would permanently damage the image of the PEN center. Yücel admitted to mistakes in his report presented in Gotha, but saw the PEN in a good position despite the conflicts.
Right at the start of the meeting, Yücel was confronted with boos and insults. According to its report, the Presidency, which wants to bring PEN back up to date, has inherited several latent problems. The smoldering conflicts and tensions would have erupted, if not in this Bureau, then in another.
Criticism of former PEN Presidents
Former PEN Presidents Gert Heidenreich, Christoph Hein, Johano Strasser, Josef Haslinger and Regula Venske recently called on Yücel to resign after he spoke out in favor of a no-fly zone over Ukraine at the lit.Cologne literature festival in mid-March. The former rated Yücel’s statement as not in line with the PEN charter.
The PEN Center Germany, which claims to have 770 members, is one of more than 140 writers’ associations worldwide that are united in the international PEN. The three letters stand for the words Poets, Essayists and Novelists.