Error occured during this request! Please try again later.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A criminal court in Turkey’s southwestern province of Antalya on Thursday banned a poetic book penned by the pro-Kurdish Democratic Peoples’ Party’s (HDP) former co-chair Figen Yuksekdag for propagating for Kurdish rebels. Yuksekdag is serving her lengthy sentence in jail for similar charges.
Yuksekdag, 48, was jailed along with the other co-chair of her party, Selahattin Demirtas, in November 2016 for terror-related charges. Both are still serving their lengthy sentences. While in prison, she penned a poetic book, Walls to Demolish, in 2020.
Antalya 6th Criminal Court of Peace on Thursday banned the book, deciding to collect all copies available in bookstores, reported BirGun news outlet. The ruling claims that Yuksekdag propagates for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the book.
PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara considers it a terrorist organization and has jailed thousands of HDP officials, members and sympathizers for their alleged links to the group. Turkish authorities have also banned dozens of books for propagating for the PKK.
Ceylan publishing house, which published the book, condemned the ban, saying in a statement that they are “used to” such decisions by Turkish authorities.
“No court can silence the voice of the poems,” it said.
The HDP also condemned the ban, saying the party will fight against “the prohibitive mentality of the power that is hostile to all beauties!.”
Turkey banned a novel in 2021 which featured the life of a late Peshmerga deminer for “praising the PKK.”
According to data Rudaw obtained from Kurdish publication houses, Ankara had banned 109 Kurdish-related books, including 31 in Kurdish language between 2016 to last year.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment