A Turkish court on Tuesday sentenced Kurdish folk singer Pınar Aydınlar to six years, three months in prison on terrorism-related charges, ruling against the prosecutor’s request for acquittal after he reversed his assessment from the indictment, Turkish media reported.
The İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court convicted Aydınlar of membership in a terrorist organization, referring to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and also imposed an international travel ban.
Aydınlar said she will appeal the verdict.
Aydınlar was arrested on February 22, as part of an investigation into the Peoples’ Democratic Congress (HDK), an umbrella organization for left-wing and pro-Kurdish groups. She was released pending trial on May 13.
Prosecutors accuse the HDK of operating as a “legal front organization” for the PKK and operating as an “alternative assembly” to the Turkish Parliament, alleging that it follows the orders of PKK executives. They also cited a 2019 ruling by Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals that labelled the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), an entity closely linked to the HDK, as a terrorist organization.
Authorities further claimed that HDK members were involved in past civil unrest, including the 2014 Kobani protests and the 2015 clashes in southeastern Turkey following the collapse of Ankara’s peace talks with the PKK and alleged that some members facilitated recruitment efforts for PKK-linked militant groups.
Founded in the late 1970s by Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK took up arms in 1984, beginning a series of bloody attacks on Turkish soil that sparked a conflict which cost more than 40,000 lives. The group is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, including the EU and the US.
Aydınlar had previously received a prison sentence of two years, one month for “disseminating terrorist propaganda” over a 2015 election campaign speech in İzmir. The sentence was later reduced to 10 months on appeal, and she was released on probation after 105 days in prison.
