Six-Month Sentence for Speaking Kurdish in Election Campaign

The Magistrate Criminal Court of Midyat in the south-eastern province of Mardin handed down a six-month prison sentence each to three former members of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), namely Midyat Mayor candidate Yüksel Aslan Acer, Midyat Provincial Chair Abdulaziz Bilgin and party member Süleyman Tekin. The party members of the pro-Kurdish DTP, which was closed by the Constitutional Court in December last year, were sentenced for speaking Kurdish in a meeting during the run-up for the elections.

The case was launched with the three politicians after a meeting on 29 March 2009 on the grounds of "committing a criminal offence by violating the laws related to oral and written election propaganda to be made in Turkish only".

'Welcome was in Kurdish, the actual speech in Turkish'

In the hearing on 3 June, the court decreed for a violation of law no. 298 on Basic Decrees of Elections and Electorate Registers. The six-month sentences were postponed.

Former Mayor Candidate Acer said in his defence that the speeches subject to the trial were in fact speeches made during the election meeting. He emphasized that the part on election propaganda was entirely made in Turkish. Only the initial greeting of the electorate was made in Turkish, Kurdish, and in the Syriac and the Mıhellemi languages since people of different cultures using different languages are living together in that electoral district, Acer claimed. However, the court was not convinced by Acer's defence. (MHI/EÖ/VK)