Turkey clamps down on Kurdish cultural centers

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Turkish authorities on Saturday suspended activities of hundreds of NGOs, including cultural centers across the country and the Kurdish region.

“We were the first association to have the word ‘Kurdish’ in its name when we organized in 2004,” the head of the Diyarbakir-based Kurdish Writers’ Union Yildiz Cakar said.

“Back then police arrested us. Prosecutors launched probes. Still, we managed to make a start. Now, 12 years later the Turkish authorities have found an excuse to stop our activities,” she continued.

Cakar’s union whose office door was sealed by police on Saturday was one of the hundreds of civic associations and other non-governmental organizations targeted.

Talking to Kurdistan24 on the phone from Diyarbakir, Cakar said the Turkish police did not present any other reason for sealing their union’s office other than a government decree. The order justified the suspension with the country’s state of emergency in place since the failed July 15 coup attempt.

Dozens of Kurdish cultural centers, language courses, women’s rights groups, anti-abuse children organizations, charities, and theaters were among the NGOs Turkey’s Government targeted in the latest crackdown on civil society on Friday.

A government decree ordering the suspension of all activities of 370 associations came late Friday night, as police units started raiding their headquarters and offices, confiscating computers and dossiers in 39 provinces across Turkey during the night and the following Saturday morning.

Cakar who vowed to challenge the decision went to read a press release in the city center on Sunday, demanding a reversal of the government decision.

Cakar was accompanied with some of her fellow members of the union who she said numbered around 300 Kurdish authors and poets.

Another victim of the clampdown was the Istanbul-based “Seyr-i Mesel” theater group which produces and stages plays in Kurdish.

The “Seyr-i Mesel” actor Ibrahim Turgay said in a phone call with Kurdistan24 that they were getting ready for a new theatrical repertoire to stage next year, as their activities were ordered for a halt.

“But we will continue doing our job. There are friends, other theater groups who told us they are ready to share their stages with us,” Turgay added defiantly.

Moreover, the actor revealed 10 high school and university students had just registered at a theater course to be trained by his director Erdal Ceviz.

“They do not have patience with Kurmanji. Pursuing a racist agenda, they have had enough with us. Such policy is not new,” Turgay said.

“Kurdish theater was always suspicious to the authorities. They are trying to leave no societal space for Kurds,” he concluded.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany