Musicians receive suspended sentences for performing Kurdish songs

Four musicians were sentenced to suspended sentences of more than a year for singing Kurdish-language songs at a wedding in Hakkari, news website Artı Gerçek reported on Wednesday.

The musicians – Naci Tekçe, Ali Tekin, İlhan Akdoğan and Bedirhan Uçar – were arrested on July 28 during raids on weddings in three different neighborhoods in Hakkari city center.

Authorities claimed the musicians played “political songs” at the weddings.

They were accused of “spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization.” This referred to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is recognized as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.

The verdicts follow recent police operations in the provinces of Aydın, Mersin, Ağrı, Siirt, Batman and Hakkari, in which more than 30 people were arrested on similar charges.

Kurds in Turkey are often pressured not to speak their native language. Prohibitions against the use of Kurdish in Turkey date back many years. Kurdish language, clothing, folklore and names were banned in 1937. The words “Kurds,” “Kurdistan” and “Kurdish” were among the officially banned words. After a military coup in 1980, speaking Kurdish even in private life was formally banned.

The visibility of Kurdish on television and in the print media only became possible in the early 2000s thanks to the country's significant progress in its efforts to become a member of the EU.

Nevertheless, the nationalist tendency and the alliance of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) with the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have led to an increase in racist attacks against Kurds over the past decade.