A Turkish court imposed an international travel ban on Kurdish writer Suzan Samancı, who was detained on Tuesday on terrorism-related accusations upon returning from Switzerland for the first time in nearly a decade, the Bianet news website reported.
Samancı, who has lived in Geneva since 2008, was detained at İstanbul Airport on accusations of disseminating propaganda for a terrorist organization. She appeared via video link before a criminal magistrate of peace in Diyarbakır, who ordered her release under judicial supervision.
Samancı told Rudaw that the accusations stemmed from past social media posts allegedly promoting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). She denied any wrongdoing.
Her lawyer, human rights defender Eren Keskin, said imposing travel ban on a writer who has lived in Switzerland for 18 years was a human rights violation as well as a restriction on freedom of expression.
The PKK, which launched an armed insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984, is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people. The group announced in May 2025 that it would disband and end its armed campaign as part of a renewed peace process.
Samancı, 64, is a member of PEN and the Writers Union of Turkey. Born in Diyarbakır in 1962, she began her literary career as a poet in the 1980s before turning to short stories and novels. She has written in both Turkish and Kurdish, and her works have been translated into several languages.
She has also contributed to several newspapers, including the pro-Kurdish Demokrasi, Gündem, Özgür Politika, as well as the now-defunct liberal daily Taraf.
Samancı stood trial in 2000 alongside four other women over speeches delivered at an International Women’s Day panel in Diyarbakır. Prosecutors accused them of disseminating separatist propaganda under Turkey’s counterterrorism law. All five were acquitted in December of that year.
She was also prosecuted in 2004 alongside six others involved in an initiative to establish a Kurdish PEN association in Diyarbakır. They were accused of hosting European Union representatives without permission from the governor’s office, in violation of Turkey’s former associations law. A Diyarbakır court acquitted all seven, finding that the legal elements of the alleged offense had not been established.
Turkey frequently brings terrorism-related charges against journalists, artists and human rights advocates, most commonly alleging links to the PKK. Human rights groups say such cases often target activities that fall under freedom of expression and association rather than involvement in violence and are used to deter dissenting voices on the Kurdish issue. The term refers broadly to demands for equal rights and recognition by the country’s Kurdish population.
