Ayşe Nur Zarakolu

Zarakolu focused attention to the situations and histories of Kurds in Turkey, Armenians in Turkey and Greeks in Turkey. Some specific publications by Belge in Turkey that were subjects of controversy include the poems of Mehdi Zana, Les Arméniens: histoire d'un génocide (The Armenians: history of a genocide) by Yves Ternon, The Forty Days of Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel, several books by İsmail Beşikçi, and the essays of Lissy Schmidt, a German journalist who had died while covering conditions in Iraqi Kurdistan.

While The Independent suggested that the books published by Belge "in any other country would hardly be controversial", Zarakolu was subject to prosecution in Turkey for her publications, including lengthy imprisonments and fines, and Belge was fire-bombed in 1995. According to The New York Times, which in 1997 identified Zarakolu as "one of the most relentless challengers to Turkey's press laws", books she published "denounce[d] the Government's war against Kurdish guerrillas, accuse[d] the security forces of involvement with death squads and document[ed] mass killings of Armenians in the early years of the century." İHD characterized Zarakolu in 2006 as "one of the vanguards of the fight for the freedom of thought and expression." In press release, the organization noted that not only had she been willing to publish İsmail Beşikçi's Kurdistan, an Inter-States Colony in defiance of a ban on the word "Kurd", but that she had "started debate on the question of "Armenian Genocide" which still remains as a taboo in Turkey."

The Armenian Reporter indicated in 2005 that the number of times Zarakolu was arrested was "more than 30." Imprisoned for her publications four times, Zarakolu was named a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. In a 2008 interview, her husband indicated that, during her imprisonment, Zarakolu had been tortured. In a letter dated 2001, Zarakolu expressed her belief that "The way to prevent yet more genocides, yet more tragedies from happening is through the communal experience of expressing heartfelt repentance for the shame of what has gone before", also indicating that "As far as I am concerned, I have done my duty. I have done something that everyone should do.... And I shall continue to do so, right through to that supreme moment."

After her death in 2002, Zarakolu faced additional charges for publishing the books Pontos Kültürü by Ömer Asan and The Song of Liberty by Hüseyin Turhallı, but charges were eventually dropped. Her son, Deniz Zarakolu, was charged for "inciting revenge or hatred, which could cause people to become dangerous for each other" as a result of the speech he made at her funeral, but he was later acquitted.