Two Kurdish inmates at Bafra Prison in Turkey’s Black Sea province of Samsun were put in solitary confinement for 11 days for writing poetry in Kurdish, the Artı Gerçek news website reported.
On June 6 prison administrators raided cells and discovered Kurdish poems in Enes İlgen and Serdar Başaran’s notebooks. The two were given disciplinary punishment on August 15.
The prison’s disciplinary board justified the decision by alleging that the poems, song lyrics and anthems were linked to propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group leading an armed insurgency against Turkey since the 1980s that has claimed around 40,000 lives.
The group is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
The board argued that the writings aimed to boost the morale of PKK sympathizers, recruit members and maintain ideological unity within the prison.
Kurds in Turkey often face pressure not to speak their native language, with authorities frequently claiming that Kurdish speakers are voicing support for the PKK.
Restrictions on the Kurdish language date back decades. Kurdish language, clothing and even names were banned in 1937, and after the 1980 military coup, speaking Kurdish was formally forbidden, even in private.
Kurdish visibility in the media increased in the early 2000s during Turkey’s bid for EU membership. However, a shift towards nationalism and the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) alliance with the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in recent years has led to a resurgence of anti-Kurdish sentiment.
