Publisher Faces 3 Years in Barzani Case

Doz Publishing House editor Ali Riza Vural faces up to three years imprisonment if found guilty on charges of "insulting and ridiculing the Republic" by publishing a two-volume book on Iraqi Kurdish leader Mullah Moustafa Barzani and the Kurdish national movement.

"Barzani and the Kurdish National Movement" was originally published in February 2003 and an initial court case launched against it was dismissed after a change in the law. A new investigation was launched after its second print in May 2005, which had led to this case, which was launched on April 6.

Vural is to appear at court for his next hearing listed for November 20 to be tried under article 301/2 of the Penal Code.

While the general content of the case is under question, its references to Kurdish revolts during in the early 20th century are subject to charges. The book evolved around the life and memoirs of Mullah Moustafa Barzani (1903-1979) who was father of current Kurdistan Democrat Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani.

"The Kurds rebelled one after another" says a section of the book. "They revolted against the imperialists and the regional states that robbed them of their rights. All of the uprisings were crushed with violence, In Turkey, Mustafa Kemal crushed the Kurds in a very hard way."

Continues the excerpt subject to charges:

"Whereas he, [modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal] managed to create the Republic, kick the Greeks our of Turkey's soil and have the allied forces recognize the Turkish state through the Kurds. At the beginning Mustafa Kemal was making generous offers to the Kurds but when his feet stood strong, he forgot all the promises he had given."

Another part of the book refers to the Armenian migration in the region, a particularly sensitive topic in Turkey and often subject to court cases where expressed in a form that does not conform with official history. (EO/AD/II/YE)