A Turkish court has banned the distribution and sale of nine books, printed by the pro-Kurdish Avesta Publications, according to reports in the Turkish media on Sunday.
The ban was imposed after copies of the nine books were found at a location where two people were earlier detained as part of an investigation into the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), in the İdil district of Şırnak province.
“The said books are volumes that were published as doctoral dissertations at the world’s leading universities between 2003 and 2015. … Among the banned books are ones about the Yazidis’ holy writings and the Battle of Çaldıran. How on earth are they affiliated with terrorism? The other banned book concerns the genocide in Iraq. This book consists of official reports of Human Rights Watch … and it is accredited by the parliaments of several countries,” the publisher’s editor-in-chief, Abdullah Keskin, told online news outlet Duvar.
The books that have been banned are “Kan, İnançlar ve Oy Pusulaları; Cesur Adamların Ülkesine Yolculuk”; “Tasavvur Mu Gerçek Mi? Mahabad Kürt Cumhuriyeti Büyük Güçlerin Politikasında Kürtler 1941-1947”; “Mağdur Diasporadan Sınır-Ötesi Vatandaşlığa Mı?”; “Ülkemde Bir Yabancı; Çaldıran Savaşı’nda Osmanlılar Safeviler ve Kürtler”; “Tanrı ve Şeyh Adi Kusursuzdur: Yezidi Tarihinden Kutsal Şiirler ve Dinsel Anlatılar”; and “Kürdistan Bayrağının Altında; Irak’ta Soykırım.”
Turkey’s decades-long conflict with the PKK was reignited in July 2015. Since a controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016 Ankara has carried out a widespread crackdown on alleged coup plotters and targeted the opposition including Kurdish media and activists. (SCF with turkeypurge.com)
