Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized Turkey for arresting dozens of Kurds at wedding parties for singing or dancing to political folk songs, calling it an abuse of power and a violation of free speech, in a statement released on Thursday.
The human rights watchdog urged the immediate release of those arrested, saying Turkish authorities are misusing the justice system to stifle Kurdish political expression.
A TikTok video of women dancing the halay — a line dance common in Turkey — at a wedding party to a song mentioning militants became the pretext for police to detain six people in the town of Kurtalan in the southeastern Turkish province of Siirt on July 26. Two women and three girls were remanded by the court to pretrial detention.
The Siirt Governor’s Office issued a statement on social media, vowing the “struggle against terrorist organizations will continue with perseverance and determination.”
The statement referenced the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been leading an armed insurgency since the 1980s that has claimed the lives of some 40,000 people in Turkey. The group is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
Similar arrests took place in other provinces including Aydın, İstanbul, Diyarbakır, Mersin, Osmaniye and Hakkari, and at least 34 people have spent weeks in pretrial detention before appearing in court.
However, the European Court of Human Rights has previously ruled that singing popular folk songs or poems, shouting generic slogans, including at public gatherings, or referencing the 40-year insurgency of the PKK against the Turkish military is protected speech.
According to HRW, the content of the songs and slogans from the wedding parties and elsewhere neither incites violence nor creates an imminent danger to individuals that could warrant criminal charges.
“Turning Kurdish wedding parties into crime scenes by arresting and prosecuting guests and musicians is only the latest example of how for decades the Turkish authorities have perverted the criminal justice system to target legitimate activities and political expression by Kurds,” HRW’s statement said.
Kurds in Turkey are often pressured not to speak their native language. Prohibitions against the use of Kurdish in Turkey go back many years. Kurdish language, clothing, folklore and names were banned in 1937. The words “Kurds,” “Kurdistan” and “Kurdish” were among those officially prohibited. After a military coup in 1980, speaking Kurdish was formally forbidden, even in private life.
The visibility of Kurdish on TV and in the print media was only made possible in the early 2000s thanks to significant progress made in the country’s bid to become a member of the EU.
Yet, the drift towards nationalism and the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) alliance with the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in the last decade has led to an increase in anti-Kurdish racist attacks.
