Turkish court orders retrial of man fined for Kurdistan flag T-shirt

ERBIL, Kurdistan - Turkey’s constitutional court ordered the retrial of a Kurdish man who was charged with “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” for wearing a T-shirt with the colors of the Kurdistan flag, media outlets reported on Tuesday.

In 2016, Abdulrahim Kilic was fined 7,300 liras (then around $2,280) for wearing a white T-shirt with the Kurdistan flag and the word “Kurdistan” printed on it. The decision was upheld by a cassation court in 2021.

Kilic appealed the decision in June.

The Turkish service of German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) reported on Tuesday that the country’s constitutional court ruled that Kilic’s freedom of expression had been violated and ordered a retrial and a payment of 10,000 liras (around $300) in non-pecuniary damages.

“In the decision, it was not explained what the emblem and symbols in question mean, whether they are connected to any terrorist organization, or whether they have the potential to incite violence ... nor was there any assessment on whether it directly or indirectly encouraged the use of violence, armed resistance, or rebellion,” read the verdict of the constitutional court published by DW.
 
The Turkish state has at times denied the existence of Kurds, with the use of the word “Kurdistan” also often creating controversy in the country. The raising of the Kurdistan flag has often been suppressed by Turkish authorities as well.

The Turkish government often associates the act of displaying Kurdish symbols, especially the Kurdistan flag, with a show of support for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), arresting those waving it for terror charges. 

In September 2022, a group of supporters of the Diyarbakir-based Amedspor were briefly detained for waving the Kurdistan flag in the tribunes and chanting the phrase “Biji Kurdistan,” which means long live Kurdistan in Kurdish. The public prosecutor’s office in Diyarbakir (Amed) said in March that the phrase does not constitute a crime.

The Kurdistan flag has been present during Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) top officials’ meetings with their Turkish counterparts.