Turkish gov’t jails 47-year-old Kurdish bus driver in Ağrı for wearing ‘Kurdistan’ T-shirt

Turkish government has arrested Mahmut Kahraman, a 47-year-old Kurdish bus driver, for wearing a T-shirt with the inscription ‘Kurdistan’.  Kahraman was accused by a Turkish court in Doğubayazıt district of Ağrı province of ‘propagating for a terrorist organisation.’

It was reported that Kahraman was stopped by Turkish police as he passed by the municipality of Ağrı’s Doğubayazıt district because he was wearing a T-shirt with the inscription ‘Kurdistan’. Anti-terror police units were dispatched to the scene afterwards and detained Kahraman.

Following three days in detention, Kahraman was referred to a local court with a demand for his arrest, and he was jailed by the court over allegedly “spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization.”

According to a report by pro-Kurdish media, Kahraman’s relatives have claimed that he was tortured during his 3-day detention.

The T-shirts bearing the word “hero” have also become a contentious issue when military officer Gökhan Güçlü, one of the suspects on trial for an assassination attempt against Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the night of the July 15, 2016 failed coup, was thrown out of the courtroom for wearing a T-shirt bearing the word “hero” because it caused tension between the parties during the hearing.

At least 37 people have been detained for wearing hero T-shirts since mid-last month.

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