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

Broadcasting editor Arslan of Radio Dünya says that a case brought against the station for playing the folk song Mihemendo two years ago has ended in acquittal. But another case is still in court.

Erol Önderoğlu

Radio Dünya broadcasts in the province of Adana, in southern Turkey. On 23 February, the radio station’s lawyer Tugay Bek found out that the station has been acquitted in a trial concerning the broadcast of a Kurdish folk song two years ago.

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)

Origin

Bıa news centre

freedom of expression Kurdish question Radio Dünya

Erol Önderoğlu

[email protected]

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A graduate of the French Language and Literature Department at İstanbul University. He has served as the Turkey representative for the international organization Reporters Without...

A graduate of the French Language and Literature Department at İstanbul University. He has served as the Turkey representative for the international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), where he began as a reporter in 1996. Since 1999, he has worked at bianet, a project of the IPS Communication Foundation, as the coordinator of the Legal Support Desk, editor for freedom of expression, and editor-in-chief. He has authored more than 4,800 signed news articles and opinion pieces. He has also written for Bizim Gazete and the journal Güncel Hukuk. He currently prepares the Media Monitoring Reports at bianet.