Turkey court sentences German-Kurdish footballer to 18 months
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – A Turkish court in the city of Diyarbakir sentenced the German-Kurdish footballer Deniz Naki to 18 months and 22 days in prison on Thursday on charges of disseminating terrorist propaganda.
The Kurdish footballer, aged 27, plays for Turkey’s Second League team Amedspor in the major Kurdish city of Diyarbakir.
Kurdistan24 bureau in Diyarbakir said his sentence was suspended after the judge decided to delay the imprisonment for five years, where he was expected not to repeat the “crime.”
Naki’s trial came after his earlier acquittal in November 2016 from the accusations based on his social media posts.
“I was acquitted in my first trial. It is saddening to get out of [the court] with such a result. I gave a message of peace. I said I am against the war. I am sentenced because of that,” Naki told the media.
Opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers Ziya Pir, Feleknas Uca, and the member of the European Parliament from Germany Fabio De Masi were present in the court for solidarity with Naki, said Kurdistan24 Diyarbakir.
In a post on his website, MEP De Masi condemned the sentence, saying “the desire for peace [was] punishable in Turkey.”
The German football club St. Pauli for which Naki played between 2009-2012 called the punishment “dreadful” on its Twitter page.
“It's hard to understand how the same judge can now come to a different ruling in an appeal,” said St. Pauli Chairman Oke Göttlich.
Naki was facing five years in jail for allegedly creating enmity in public and engaging in hate speech.
His social media comments were about a new round of conflicts between Turkish government forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that began in mid-2015.
On Sep. 4, 2015, the footballer shared a post on his official Facebook page following the killing of two PKK members in the Alevi-Kurdish majority province of Dersim where Naki is from.
“A thousand greetings to the heroes of Dersim,” Naki wrote on his page.
On Jan. 4, 2016, the Amedspor player posted a photo of a man holding his deceased child referencing the military curfew in the town of Cizre.
“Think of a father whose two children have been shot and [lying] next to him lifelessly; he can’t even bury them because there is a curfew in Cizre,” the post read.
After a 2-1 victory over Bursaspor in the Turkish Cup on Jan. 31, 2016, the Amedspor striker shared a post related to another curfew in the Sur district.
“We dedicate this victory to those who have lost their lives and been injured in the 50 days of oppression we face on our lands. Long live freedom,” Naki wrote.
The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) banned Naki for 12 matches a year ago following his comments after the game.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany