Government urged to clarify policy as courts continue to harass Kurdish media

As Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday ended a two-day visit to France aimed at reducing French opposition to Turkey’s entry into the European Union, an Istanbul judge jailed the editor of the country’s only Kurdish-language newspaper, Azadiya Welat (Free Country), for speaking in Kurdish at his trial. He faces up to 41 days in prison. This shocking decision, which has sent a very negative signal to Turkey’s Kurds (a quarter of the country’s population), is just the latest example of the way Turkey’s courts have been harassing Azadiya Welat. One of the newspaper’s former editors, Vedat Kursun, is facing a total of 525 years in prison. Another former editor, owner Ozan Kilinç, has been sentenced to 21 years in absentia. And on 4 April, one of its distributors was found hanged. It is not yet known if his death was linked to his work. “It is impossible to reconcile these utterly disproportionate court rulings with the ‘Kurdish opening’ announced by the government last October,” Reporters Without Borders said. “What exactly are the Turkish authorities trying to do? Rekindle tension with the Kurdish population? The prime minister needs to send a clear message and to act in a coherent and responsible manner.” Azadiya Welat’s current editor, Mehdi Tanrikulu, presented himself to an Istanbul court yesterday for the start of his trial on a charge of propaganda on behalf of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is regarded as a terrorist organisation by both the European Union and the United States. The prosecution was prompted by a 23 January article referring to the PKK as the “Kurdish liberation movement” and to the PKK’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, as the “leader of the Kurdish people.” Tanrikulu is facing up to 10 years in prison under article 7-2 of Anti-Terrorist Law (3713). After the prosecution presented its case, Tanrikulu was invited to speak in his defence. He stood up and began to speak in Kurdish, a right that is guaranteed by article 39 of the Treaty of Lausanne, of which Turkey is a signatory. The presiding judge nonetheless interrupted and told him to use Turkish. When Tanrikulu continued to speak in Kurdish, the judge had him imprisoned. If the court does not order Tanrikulu’s release in the next few days, he could remain in prison until the next hearing, which has been set for 21 May, in 41 days’ time.