Kurdish Politician Alınak Refuses To Buy His Freedom

Kurdish politician Mahmut Alınak, who proposed to use the names of Deniz Gezmiş, Vedat Aydın and Musa Anter, left wing and pro-Kurdish figures who were killed, for streets and parks and who protested the prison conditions of Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), who is in jail for life, will be sent to jail since he refuses to pay the fine the court ordered for the above crimes.

Mahmut Alınak is supposed to pay a  fine of 1000 YTL (about 500 euro), which he received instead of 50 days in jail, until 17.00 on August 11 (Monday). Alınak, spokesperson for the Kars People’s Assembly, will surrender to the Kars prosecutor after the press release he will have in the morning of August 12 at 10:00.

Alınak: I am entering the prison with my free will

Alınak, who will stay in jail about fifty days, describes entering prison as one’s duty in Turkey in the fight against the existing anti-democratic practices.

The court punished him for the crime of praising the crime and the criminal when he proposed to give the names of Deniz Gezmiş, Vedat Aydın and Musa Anter to various streets and parks. While Deniz Gezmiş, one of the leaders of Turkish People’s Liberation Army, was hanged in 1972 for his political activities, Vedat Aydın and Musa Anter were murdered for their political activities conducted in the name of the Kurdish people.

Alınak was also fined for his speeches about the prison conditions of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan.

He says he refuses to buy his freedom. That is why he chooses to go to prison instead.

According to Alınak, while he is punished for proposing to give the names of Deniz Geçmiş, Vedat Aydın and Musa Anter to streets and parks, the names of Mustafa Muğlalı, a four-star general sentenced to life in prison in 1944 for executing 33 peasants by shooting, and politicians Adnan Menderes and Celal Bayar, who were found guilty by the courts, are given to many facilities and places. (EÖ/EZÖ)