The Diyarbakır 5^th High Criminal Court sentenced Selim Sadak, mayor of the city of Siirt in south-eastern Turkey, to imprisonment of one year under charges of "spreading propaganda for the PKK", the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party. Reason for the mayor's conviction was a statement made to a journalist where Sadak used the term "Kurdistan".

In the hearing on 26 April, the court reasoned the decision by claiming that mayor Sadak "made a speech analogue to statements of a 'common homeland Kurdistan' based on notes of an interview with Abdullah Öcalan [imprisoned leader of the PKK] and by using arguments of an illegal organization towards the organization's aims".

Un-detained defendant Sadak did not attend the hearing. He was represented by his lawyer Şakir Demir during the hearing. In his defence speech, lawyer Demir stated that his client's utterances should be evaluated within the right to freedom of thought concerning a politician's view on current developments. Demir furthermore claimed that Sadak's statement did not include contents that would constitute a crime.

According to the lawyer, Sadak referred to "Kurdistan" as a geographical region and a historic fact. Demir said Sadak meant that a place called "Kurdistan" exists.

The court was not convinced and sentenced the mayor to imprisonment of one year according to article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Act (TMY).

Ten months sentence because of 2010 calendar

On 13 April, the Diyarbakır 4^th High Criminal Court handed down a prison sentence of 10 months to Sadak under the same charges on the grounds of a photograph in the 2010 calendar. (EÖ/VK)