Turkish duo pen bestselling novel though prison bars

"Duet in Purgatory" - A gripping crime novel written by a jailed Kurdish leader and a Turkish writer.

A jailed Kurdish leader and a Turkish writer on the other side of the bars have used their penpal exchanges to write one of Turkey's highest-selling books.

The crime novel "Duet in Purgatory", which features a retired left-wing lawyer and a bitter ageing general with a tortuous past, has been a roaring success.

The two writers developed the story, which spans the last 40 years of Turkey's tumultuous history and the long-standing Kurdish conflict, without ever discussing the plot.

"It was a risky gamble to try and write a novel like you'd play chess, move by move, without agreeing on the plot, the characters or the style -- nothing," Selahattin Demirtas told a literary critic in an interview from prison.

The writing of the story began when author and translator Yigit Bener sent the jailed Kurdish leader Demirtas, who is serving a 42-year sentence, a copy of Louis-Ferdinand Celine's classic novel "Journey to the End of the Night".

He also put a note inside - "the expression of my solidarity".

Mr. Demirtas, who is 51 and a former co-president of the third largest political party in Turkey's parliament was jailed in 2016 with the European Court of Human Rights later condemning his detention as political and calling for his release.