Fatma Zozan Bor, a Kurdish artist, has said she was strip-searched as well as verbally and physically harassed by the police after she was detained during an art exhibition in southeastern Turkey, the Artı Gerçek news website reported.
Bor was taken into custody on Monday at an art event honoring victims of femicide around the world marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. According to her account, plainclothes officers interrupted the exhibit without identifying themselves, detained her and damaged her artwork in the process.
“They seized my paintings without any explanation,” she said. “When I questioned them, one officer said, ‘I am the state. I do whatever I want.’”
Bor alleged that the organizers had secured all of the necessary permits and the police action appeared to be a deliberate attempt to suppress artistic expression. “The confiscated works honored victims of violence,” she said. “This is not just censorship — it normalizes violence and seeks to silence those who expose it.”
Bor said she was subjected to a strip-search and also verbally and physically harassed at the Bitlis police department facility. She described the incident as an attack on Kurdish culture and women’s artistic expression.
According to Turkish legal regulations, strip-searches can only be conducted in exceptional cases, such as when there are credible indications that the person has contraband materials on their person. In such cases, the search must be conducted in a manner so as not to humiliate the individual and must be performed as quickly as possible. When there is a credible suspicion that something is hidden inside the person’s body, officers are required to ask the person to remove it themselves and inform them that if they disobey, the removal will be performed by the prison doctor.
Bor was released after a brief detention period and vowed to continue her work. “We will not back down. We will persist in our struggle,” she said.
Legal action has been initiated to retrieve two of Bor’s paintings confiscated by the police and hold authorities accountable.
Turkish authorities have long been accused of restricting Kurdish cultural expression as part of broader efforts to suppress Kurdish identity. Policies have included bans on the Kurdish language in public spaces, education and media, as well as restrictions on cultural events seen as promoting Kurdish heritage. Kurdish artists, musicians, and writers often face censorship, harassment or even arrest under laws that equate expressions of Kurdish identity with separatism. Officials frequently target Kurdish cultural organizations and events, alleging ties to outlawed groups like the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a justification often criticized by human rights organizations as a pretext for stifling cultural and political dissent. These measures are particularly visible in southeastern Turkey, where state crackdowns on Kurdish initiatives are common.
