PEN International has called on Turkish authorities to drop all charges against a Kurdish writer who faces more than seven years in prison on charges of disseminating terrorist propaganda due to his work.
Yavuz Ekinci, 45, has been indicted on terrorism propaganda charges stemming from a book he wrote in 2014, titled “Rüyası Bölünenler” (Dream Divided). The first hearing in his trial will take place at a high criminal court in İstanbul on September 18.
PEN called on Turkish authorities in its statement on Tuesday to stop using over-broad counterterrorism laws to curb peaceful expression and to uphold the right to freedom of thought and opinion.
Article 7 of Turkey’s controversial Counterterrorism Law (TMK), which makes it a crime to spread terrorist propaganda, is criticized for its use as a weapon by the government to silence its critics as well as for its vague content.
An İstanbul court had already ruled in March 2023 that Ekinci’s book included content amounting to “terrorist propaganda” and banned its publication, distribution and sale. Copies of the book were confiscated.
The case is currently pending before Turkey’s Constitutional Court.
Ekinci has been the subject of frequent judicial action in Turkey.
In March 2023 he was found guilty of “spreading terrorist propaganda” and handed down a suspended sentence for eight tweets he published on X in 2013 and 2014.
His tweets were mostly about the spring celebration of Nevruz in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast and Kurds’ struggle in the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani in 2014 against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
His conviction is now pending before the Supreme Court of Appeals.
PEN also called on Turkish authorities to overturn this conviction.
PEN said the latest case against Ekinci comes in the wake of a mounting crackdown in Turkey on reading materials, the publishing landscape and social media platforms, including those promoting creative content, while calling on the Turkish government to stop censoring and persecuting writers for the legitimate exercise of their right to freedom of expression — starting with Ekinci.
“Governments around the world should uphold the right to freedom of thought and opinion and encourage access to diverse literature. The authorities of Türkiye should allow Ekinci’s work – and that of numerous writers facing similar restrictions – to reach all those who wish to discover it,” PEN’s statement said.
Ekinci has written novels and short stories about the fate of the Kurds in Turkey and is the editor of a series of works by Kurds living in exile.
The writer, who used to live in İstanbul, has been living in Germany temporarily since June 2023 with the help of PEN Berlin.