Turkish police raided three weddings in eastern Turkey and detained organizers, participants and production crews that were recording the events due to the Kurdish songs played, the Yeni Yaşam news website reported on Monday.
The individuals in custody were accused of “spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization,” the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is recognized as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
The detainees, whose exact number remains unclear, are currently being held at the police department in Hakkari province.
Kurds in Turkey are often pressured not to speak their native language. Authorities frequently claim that people speaking in Kurdish are actually chanting slogans in support of the PKK, which has been leading an armed insurgency against Turkey’s security forces since the ’80s in a campaign that has claimed the lives of some 40,000 people.
Prohibitions against the use of Kurdish in Turkey go back many years. Kurdish language, clothing, folklore and names had been banned since 1937. The words “Kurds,” “Kurdistan” and “Kurdish” were among those officially prohibited. After a military coup in 1980, speaking Kurdish was officially 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 the anti-Kurdish racist attacks.
