{"id":19660,"date":"2025-07-06T18:19:56","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T18:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/?p=19660"},"modified":"2025-07-06T18:34:01","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T18:34:01","slug":"turkiye-writer-yavuz-ekinci-on-trial-again-as-spurious-terror-propaganda-case-resumes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2025\/07\/06\/turkiye-writer-yavuz-ekinci-on-trial-again-as-spurious-terror-propaganda-case-resumes.html","title":{"rendered":"T\u00fcrkiye: Writer Yavuz Ekinci on trial again as spurious terror-propaganda case resumes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PEN Belarus joins the\u00a0statement<\/a> of PEN International about Kurdish writer Yavuz Ekinci.<\/p>\n

\u2018That Kurdish writer Yavuz Ekinci finds himself in court again for his writings after the case against him was dismissed exposes the authorities of T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s pernicious pursuit of those who dare explore uncomfortable truths. We urge the authorities to stop weaponizing the justice system to silence diverse voices and to end their relentless judicial harassment of Ekinci once and for all,\u2019<\/em> said Burhan Sonmez, PEN International President.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

04 July 2025 \u2013 The authorities of T\u00fcrkiye should urgently drop bogus terror-propaganda charges against Kurdish writer Yavuz Ekinci, PEN International said today. Although the case against Ekinci was dismissed in December 2024, the prosecution subsequently appealed the decision, and the next hearing will be held at the 23rd High Criminal Court in Istanbul on 9 July. Ekinci faces up to seven-and-a-half years in prison if convicted.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Writer Yavuz Ekinci stands accused of \u2018making terrorist propaganda\u2019 in relation to his book R\u00fcyas\u0131 B\u00f6l\u00fcnenler<\/em> (Dream Divided<\/em>), a charge that carries up to seven and a half years in prison under Article 7 of T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s Anti-Terror Law No. 3713 \u2013 routinely used<\/a> by the authorities of T\u00fcrkiye to silence independent voices. Ekinci\u2019s trial opened on 18 September 2024 at the 23rd High Criminal Court in Istanbul. In a welcome move, and following PEN\u2019s campaign<\/a>, the court dismissed<\/a> all charges against Ekinci on 9 December 2024. However, the prosecution appealed the decision, with the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice subsequently ruling on 8 May 2025 that the case should be sent back to trial.<\/p>\n

Already on 14 March 2023, a court in Istanbul ruled<\/a> that Dream Divided<\/em> included content amounting to \u2018terrorist propaganda\u2019 and banned its publication, distribution, and sale. Copies of the book were also confiscated. The case was pending before T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s Constitutional Court at the time of writing. Published in 2014, Dream Divided<\/em> tells the journey of a Kurdish man who fled T\u00fcrkiye for political reasons and his struggles to build a new life in Germany. Upon learning that his father is gravely ill, the protagonist sets on a journey to find his long-lost brother, who took up arms years prior and fled to the Qandil Mountains. The book ends with a call for unity and peace.<\/p>\n

Access to diverse literature, thought and opinion is a fundamental right that must be upheld by governments worldwide. Freedom of expression, and the freedoms to publish and read, are intrinsically linked<\/a>. PEN International urges the authorities of T\u00fcrkiye to abide by their international human rights obligations, starting by urgently dropping all charges against Ekinci and desisting from punishing imagination and expression.<\/p>\n

Additional information\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yavuz Ekinci, born in 1979, has received multiple awards for his short stories, including the 2005 Haldun Taner Award and the 2007 Yunus Nadi Award. His work focuses on the plight of Kurdish people in T\u00fcrkiye and has been translated into German, Greek, and Kurdish. He also works as a teacher and editor of Kurdish Literature. His latest book, Aziz<\/em>, was released in December 2024. A German edition of Dream Divided<\/em> is to be published in September.<\/p>\n

Ekinci has been repeatedly targeted for his writing and the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression. In a separate case in March 2022, he was found guilty<\/a> of \u2018making terrorist propaganda\u2019 and handed a suspended sentence of one year, six months and 22 days in prison for eight tweets published on his Twitter account in 2013 and 2014. The tweets, none of which promoted or incited violence, for the most part related to the Newroz (New Year) celebrations in Diyarbak\u0131r, south-eastern T\u00fcrkiye, and to the 2014 battle of Kobane in Syria. The case was pending before T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s Court of Cassation at the time of writing. In 2018, a smear campaign<\/a> was launched online against Ekinci following the publication of his book Peygamberin Endi\u015fesi<\/em> (The Prophet\u2019s Concern<\/em>).<\/p>\n

For more information about PEN International\u2019s work on T\u00fcrkiye please see Identity on Trial: Persecution and Resistance<\/em><\/a>, PEN International\u2019s Case List 2025, which documents 138 cases of persecuted writers worldwide, including Ekinci.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Note to editors:<\/strong><\/p>\n

For further details, please contact Aur\u00e9lia Dondo<\/strong>, Head of Europe and Central Asia Region at PEN International: Aurelia.Dondo@pen-international.org<\/a><\/p>\n

For media queries, please contact\u202fSabrina Tucci<\/strong>, Communications and Campaigns Manager at PEN International:\u202fSabrina.Tucci@pen-international.org<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PEN Belarus joins the\u00a0statement of PEN International about Kurdish writer Yavuz Ekinci. \u2018That Kurdish writer Yavuz Ekinci finds himself in court again for his writings after the case against him was dismissed exposes the authorities of T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s pernicious pursuit of those who dare explore uncomfortable truths. We urge the authorities to stop weaponizing the justice<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":19661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4201],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solidarity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19660"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19664,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19660\/revisions\/19664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}