One Acquittal for Kurdish Song, One More Court Case to Go

The case had been heard at Adana’s 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance since 8 January 2008. Broadcast editor Mehmet Arslan had faced imprisonment. However, the court has now decreed that there was no proof of a crime.

The folk song “Mihemedo”, sung by exiled Kurdish singer Şiwan Perver, has ironically since been played on the newly set up state TRT 6 channel which has been broadcasting in Kurdish since January 2009.

However, when it was played on the local radio station in Adana on 16 October 2007, the Anti-Terrorism Unit of the Adana Police had filed a criminal complaint.

"Incitement to hatred and hostility"

According to Radikal newspaper, the prosecutor’s indictment cited the following lyrics of the song as an incitement to hatred and hostility:

“Let the Turks also feel pain, they say that they have laid out my Mehmed in the sun, they told me and said, the Turkish soldiers followed my Mehmed and caught him, for the life of me, tell them in Diyarbakır and Siverek, tell the fathers and brothers to take revenge for my Mehmed.”

An expert report ordered by the court had found that “although there are some suggestive works in the song, it is a folk song. It is not clear that it was broadcast in order to spread hatred among people deliberately, and no criminal intention has been found.”

One more case to go...

While the acquittal has been met with joy by the radio station, Kenan Karavil of Radio Dünya pointed out that there was another court case hanging over them:

“We are on trial at the Adana Criminal Court of First Instance for playing the Keçe Kurda (Kurdish Girl) song sung by Aynur Doğan in Kurdish. And this is despite the fact that national media play this song without problems.” (EÖ/TK/AG)