Turkey’s Constitutional Court has ruled that convicting an individual for wearing a T-shirt bearing Kurdish symbols on charges of promoting a terrorist organization violated his right to freedom of expression, the Artı Gerçek news website reported on Tuesday.
Abdurrahim Kılıç, a man who stood trial at a Mardin court on charges of promoting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, due to his T-shirt, was fined TL 7,300 ($2,280 according to the rate of exchange in effect in 2016).
The T-shirt reportedly featured the word Kurdistan as well as the Mesopotamian sun, a folk symbol adopted by Kurdish communities.
The lower court had ruled that wearing the T-shirt constituted terrorist propaganda, a decision that was upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeals in 2021.
Kılıç subsequently took his case to the Constitutional Court.
In its detailed decision, the top court stated that the ruling of the lower court did not explain the meaning of the emblem and symbols in question, whether they were connected to any terrorist organization, or if they had the potential to incite violence.
Furthermore, there was no examination of how wearing the T-shirt encouraged, legitimized or praised violence. There was also no assessment regarding as to how it posed a danger or directly or indirectly incited armed resistance or rebellion, according to the Constitutional Court.
The court ordered a retrial and awarded Kılıç TL 10,000 ($302) in non-pecuniary damages.
It is common for Kurds in Turkey to face terrorism charges related to the PKK for wearing or carrying folkloric or cultural items that do not necessarily promote the militant group.
For instance, the authorities in recent years have detained and prosecuted a number of ordinary people in predominantly Kurdish cities for wearing scarves featuring the colors red, yellow and green, on the grounds that the same colors appear in the PKK’s flag.
The Mesopotamian sun is also seen in the flag of the autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, with which Turkey maintains official relations. The flag is regularly displayed by Turkish authorities during their high-level meetings with Kurdistan representatives.
Turkey’s counterterrorism laws are often criticized for being overly vague, allowing too much room for interpretation, while the judiciary is widely described as being under executive control.
The country was ranked 117th among 142 countries in the rule of law index published by the World Justice Project (WJP) in October, in a sign of the deteriorating rule of law in the country.
