The ‘peace process’ is a trap to bury Kurdish political goals in Turkey

Sheri Laizer | Exclusive to iKurd.net

More than any other actor, it is Abdullah Öcalan that has undone the PKK and with it the Kurdish cause that the PKK claimed to represent.

Much political and media fanfare has been made about the so-called ‘peace process’ between the PKK and the AKP government over the past year. On March 1, 2025 the PKK declared yet another unilateral ceasefire.

Captive PKK leader, Abdullah Öcalan, had called upon his party to devolve/dissolve itself and give up their weapons on February 27, 2025. The PKK imposed conditions to such ‘negotiations’ with the autocratic AKP government still led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan after 23 years. However, with their leader still held prisoner into his 27th year of virtual isolation on Imrali island many in the Kurdish elite remain wary about the sincerity of the Turkish side.

Öcalan had acted much the same in August 1999 announcing a ceasefire that generally lasted until 2004. At Newroz (Kurdish New Year) on 21 March 2013 he had again called on the PKK to lay down their weapons – this time in the name of the ‘solution process.’

The July 20, 2015, Suruç massacre in Kurdish Urfa put paid to that: an Islamist suicide bomber detonated his vest killing more than thirty people that had been meeting in a cultural centre in solidarity with the Kurdish resistance in Kobane against ISIS across the border. 1 The youth association met to discuss how to help rebuild Kobane. 2

Mini pyre

A theatrical show of burning a heap of weapons in a semi-public setting was staged around a year ago on 11 July 2025. This piece of theatre, in retrospect, largely took place for the benefit of the doubt. In my opinion, it was little other than a political circus.

The weapons-burning was orchestrated in Jasana cave in the mountainous area of Sulaimaniya under the control of the PUK; the PKK and the KDP have historically had bad blood. The KDP has openly collaborated with Turkey for years: the party has enabled Turkish Intelligence agents (MIT) and the Turkish military to operate without restrictions against the PKK in the ‘yellow’ zone under the control of the corrupt Barzani leadership.

Despite several unilateral PKK ceasefires over the decades, the Turkish side has never demonstrated any change in its deeply racist attitudes, its militarist rhetoric or its actual militarisation of the Kurdish region within the modern-day borders of Turkey.

Millions of words have been spoken but there has never been any lasting or convincing response to Kurdish gestures.

If you consider at the ceremony of the weapons’ destruction it can be seen that there were no more than around 30 PKK militants taking part, and that a small pyre of arms was destroyed. It was symbolic.

Just days later a senior PKK cadre announced that no more such ceremonies would take place. The party has demanded legally binding guarantees from Erdogan along with the requisite changes to the constitution. They demand a special parliamentary commission to take over the next steps.

Media headlines asserting that the PKK was/is dissolving itself are still just that; nothing concrete has happened because the Turkish side has so far not met any of the opposition’s demands that might actually help to pave a path to equality.

Helin Ümit, a cadre within the PKK’s Central Committee structure, claimed the weak-sounding, “Peace and Democratic Society Group, “is preparing for democratic political participation”. The message had been delivered at the (symbolic) ceremony” she maintained.

Her terms of nomenclature arise from Ocalan’s embrace of Murray Bookchin’s philosophy dating from the 1980s 4 yet sounds more like the language of Orwell’s 1984.

The PKK’s collective amnesia

This is plain nonsense because the PKK has always operated a political platform and was not just defined by its armed wing. The armed wing had originally been called the Kurdistan Freedom Brigades (HRK), then in 1986, this mutated to the People’s Liberation Army of Kurdistan (ARGK) before its further mutation to the People’s Defense Forces (HPG).

The word ‘Kurdistan’ was dropped in 1999 after Öcalan’s capture on February 15, 1999. Regrettably, for the wider Kurdish community, the quest for Kurdish rights through the long and bloody decades of struggle that once stipulated an independent and then an autonomous Kurdistan has since become conflated with ‘freedom for Öcalan’.

Cadres like Helin Ümit (a nom de guerre – her surname means ‘hope’ in Turkish) appear to suffer from amnesia: they forget the PKK’s own history when trotting out the accepted currency of Bookchin-flavoured semantics: “At the beginning of the process, there were calls to grant Öcalan the right to hope for freedom, but so far, no change has been made in Öcalan’s situation,” she said. “For the process to be viable, it must be enshrined in law by the Turkish parliament to prevent it from being derailed by future political problems…” 6

But even back in 2023 – just three years ago – this same spokesperson had been speaking much more clearly, and “argued that what she called the genocidal war against the Kurdish people remains a defining factor in Turkey’s politics and economy. She said that a full understanding of Turkey’s political dynamics requires acknowledging the politics of İmralı and dismissing the notion of a detached democratic system as a misconception…”

Ümit was reported at that time to have adopted “a strong stance against the ruling AKP, condemning its almost 25 years in power. She accused the party of orchestrating, tolerating, collaborating with and accelerating criminal organisations.

Ümit argued that a conspiratorial bloc has been a feature of all Turkish governments since 1923, with the current coalition between the AKP and the far-right MHP representing the most sophisticated form. She held the government responsible for the formulation of the most conspiratorial and special war policies, which contributed to what she described as the darkest period of the country’s history.” 7

What has happened to Öcalan?

Many thousands of supporters quit the PKK after Öcalan’s capture in 1999, often in personal responses to his poor court performance and his claims that his mother was Turkish – along with utterances of guilt over Kurdish actions that he hoped would appease his captors. For example, he grovelled when he stressed the closeness of Turks and Kurds in history.

An author of a recent and highly-detailed book on the PKK, Aliza Marcus, had noted of Öcalan’s court performance: “I am sorry,” said Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, after a woman blamed him for the death of her soldier husband. “I understand your pain.” Kurds waited for him to continue, but he said nothing else.

Ocalan, who is responsible for leading the biggest Kurdish rebellion in Turkey’s history, did not bother to add that Kurdish families are also grieving. In fact, during the nine-day trial held in June on the island prison in the Sea of Marmara, he rarely mentioned what led Kurds to support the PKK. 8

Aliza Marcus’s new book, ‘Resilience and Revolution: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight in Turkey and Syria’ has just been published in an updated edition and offers a historic perspective devoid of amnesia. 9

In the two-plus decades since his capture and sentencing, Abdullah Öcalan has been successfully coerced by the Turkish government to hand them the PKK and Kurdish goals on a plate.

“More than any other actor, it is Abdullah Öcalan that has undone the PKK and with it the Kurdish cause the PKK claimed to represent” one angry Kurdish critic emphasised to me. “That the HDP and its ‘affiliates’ should follow such a path is even more pitiful. I cannot believe my own people can be so blind, so stupid.”

Öcalan’s recent video appearances bear no resemblance to his former character or public style to the extent that one might ask if he has been subjected to a lobotomy. He was held apart so long without visits by his lawyers or approved intermediaries that anything is possible. He has even been constrained to clip his moustache according to the Sunni-Islamist fashion showing the upper lip, unlike the bushy left-wing Kurdish moustache fashion of his heyday as a freer man in Damascus.

“Terror-Free Türkiye” propaganda does not equate to Kurdish rights

The Turkish AKP-MHP government has not made any constitutional changes and continues to use the language of ‘terrorism’ vowing to annihilate the PKK. Erdogan makes and breaks laws as it suits him. A major case in point was in turning his former ally, the late Islamist Fethullah Gulen and his movement into a ‘terrorist’ phenomenon.

The dissolution of the PKK has not happened just as when the group changed its name to KADEK for a short while. 11 This irritating word speak is much like the new variant of “The Peace and Democratic Society Group”. Advocating a ‘democratic solution at election time back in November 2002, almost twenty-four years ago, the PKK expended much rhetoric – but little changed.

Erdogan’s goal is PKK disarmament, in tandem with that of the YPG/SDF in Syria and the destruction of all PKK-linked/sympathetic affiliates. His overriding aim is to smother Kurdish political aspirations through depriving Kurds of their historic resort to ‘armed struggle’ despite the fact that the Iraqi Kurdish parties retain their respective peshmerga forces – and that these are now very well armed and highly trained by their Western backers.

Turkey is looking to crush Kurdish resistance in the name of ending ‘terrorism’ using slogans like ‘a terror free Turkey. That is not the same as peace or equality for Turkey’s long-suffering Kurds.

A draft law envisioned for ‘discussion’ this month is still being ‘discussed’. Any negotiations appear to be mainly ‘back channel’ with the pro-Öcalan HDP camp running the gauntlet as custom. 13The ‘KCK” is also referred to as part of the terrorist structure despite the KCK – Kurdistan Democratic Communities Union – being solely political14 – and to some extent a forerunner of the ‘Peace and Democratic Society Group.’

These name combinations have arisen throughout the struggle for legal representation through the parliamentary system – SDP, to HEP, ÖZEP, ÖZDEP, DEP, HADEP, DEHAP, DTH, DTP, BDP, HDP, DBP, and DEM – it doesn’t change. This movement reflects the same PKK-speak throughout its history.15

AKP officials claim any draft legislation can be expected to consist of 10 – 11 articles but would enter into force only after the government verifies that the PKK has laid down its arms. A title for it like “Law on the Dissolution, Disarmament, and Termination of the Legal Existence of the PKK-KCK Terrorist Organization,” is being bandied about according to the AKP.

AKP spokesperson, Ömer Çelik, claimed discussions had reached the stage of “evaluating a legal framework” but this would only take effect after the organization’s disarmament, thereby putting the cart before the horse. Çelik stated all of the PKK ‘extensions’ must also be dissolved.

The stumbling block is clearly that the PKK is expected to go the entire distance before any legal guarantees are even put into place by their long term foes.

The Kurdish quest for self-determination in Turkey is being conflated with ‘terrorism’ just as it has been by successive Turkish governments since the term ‘terrorism’ became fashionable. Kurdish parties that were once referred to as ‘brigands’ and ‘communists’ simply became ‘terrorists’.

Thus the slogan of a ‘terror-free Tükiye’ has nothing to do with peace or Bookchin’s utopian ‘democratic society’. Turkey’s society is a highly militarised society based on racist edicts enshrined in the Constitution.

The PKK for its part, dropped the word ‘Kurdistan’ once Öcalan wrecked his own vehicle of “independence for Kurdistan” and his followers sacrificed ever more to secure his freedom.

Scores of supporters worldwide had burned themselves to death for Öcalan even before he was first captured. Thousands fought or fell at the hands of the Turkish death squads and special forces. Female guerrillas were raped and their corpses mutilated by Turkish Special Forces, the army and gendarmes.

Today, torture is as prevalent in Turkey as ever and the entire Kurdish majority region is entirely militarised like one giant armed camp. There is no place in the Turkish constitution for ‘Kurds.’ This is highly unlikely to change while Erdogan remains alive and in power.

NATO’S weapons bounty

Meanwhile, NATO is about to give Turkey ‘tens of billions in defense deals’ – a sure sign of ‘peaceful’ future planning.

NATO Secretary-General, former Dutch premier, Mark Rutte 17 said the July 7 and 8 NATO summit in Turkey’s capital would focus on defense industry cooperation, weapons production and support for Ukraine: “We need to ensure that we are translating our economic might into military capabilities,” Rutte said at an Atlantic Council event in Washington…”18

Historically speaking, Turkey has turned NATO (and US) supplied weapons on its Kurdish minority breaking its end-use obligations but to little – if any – real censure. Human Rights Watch reported with concern in the mid-1990s. An extract from the November 1995 report, Weapons Transfers and Violations of the Laws of War in Turkey had stated:

“The United States government in particular has been deeply involved in arming Turkey and supporting its arms production capacities. Although several NATO governments have occasionally protested Turkish policies, most have continued to supply Turkey with arms.

This report documents the Turkish security forces’ violations of the laws of war and of human rights, and their reliance on U.S. and NATO-supplied weapons in doing so. Drawing on investigations of twenty-nine incidents that occurred between 1992 and 1995, the report links specific weapons systems to individual incidents of Turkish violations.

Supplemented by interviews with former Turkish soldiers, U.S. officials and defense experts, the report concludes that U.S. weapons, as well as those supplied by other NATO members, are regularly used by Turkey to commit severe human rights abuses and violations of the laws of war in the southeast.

The most egregious examples of Turkey’s reliance on U.S. weaponry in committing abuses are its use of U.S.-supplied fighter-bombers to attack civilian villages and its use of U.S.-supplied helicopters in support of a wide range of abusive practices, including the punitive destruction of villages, extrajudicial executions, torture, and indiscriminate fire…” 19

Time has not improved Turkey’s conduct. The UN’s OHCR has urged Turkey ‘not to turn back the clock on human rights’ and to end the criminalisation of human rights defenders and lawyers through the use of the rhetoric of ‘terrorism’ – just as with the so-called ‘peace process’:

“The misuse of anti-terrorism laws has been the subject of multiple letters from UN Special Procedures mandate holders to the Turkish Government in 2023 and 2020. The İHD has also been the subject of numerous communications to the Turkish authorities, most recently in 2022 and 2021. The most recent prosecution of its staff is linked to their work on prisoners’ rights, alleged torture cases and the promotion of a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue.” 20

But is anyone listening?

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AMED,— Several thousand people gathered in the main Kurdish city of Amed (Diyarbakir) in Turkish Kurdistan, the Kurdish region in southeastern Turkey, demanding release of imprisoned Kurdish leader and the founder of Kurdistan Workers’ Party leader PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, media reported.

Demonstrators filled a central square chanting Kurdish slogans including “Serok Apo” meaning Leader Apo in a show of support for the 77-year-old held on Imrali prison island since 1999.

The rally followed PKK last year formally renouncing armed struggle against the Turkish state ending a four-decade conflict that has left at least 40,000 dead.

Following Ocalan’s call for the group to lay down weapons the PKK announced dissolution staged symbolic arms-burning ceremony and withdrew fighters from Turkish territory.

Addressing crowd in Diyarbakir former Imrali inmate Veysi Aktas who once shared prison with Ocalan said durable peace not possible while he remains in isolation.

“There can be no peace through isolation,” he said.

He added isolation distances leadership from people and peace requires recognition of people respect for identity and respect for will of people.

Despite repeated calls from supporters and pro-Kurdish politicians to ease Ocalan’s detention conditions his situation remains unchanged.

He has recently been granted increased access to family members lawyers and a small number of lawmakers from pro-Kurdish DEM party involved in peace efforts.

PKK took arms in 1984 against Turkish state which denies constitutional existence of Kurds to push greater autonomy in Turkish Kurdistan for Kurdish minority making up nearly 30 percent of Turkey 85 million population according 2012 statistics.

Conflict has claimed over 40,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish guerrillas according to Turkey.

(With files from AFP)

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ISTANBUL,— Turkish prosecutors launched a formal investigation Saturday into Rahmi Koc, the 95-year-old billionaire and honorary head of Koc Holding, the country’s largest conglomerate, after a joke he made about a Kurdish woman triggered widespread condemnation as sexist and racist, AFP reported.

Koc made the remarks Friday evening at a hospital opening ceremony in the western resort city of Izmir.

The incident drew little attention initially, but video footage spread rapidly online and provoked strong public reaction.

The joke centered on a misunderstanding between a Kurdish woman and a doctor.

The pro-Kurdish opposition DEM party said it filed a criminal complaint against Koc on charges of “public incitement to hatred and hostility,” “insult” and “hate and discrimination.”

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek announced the investigation on X, saying prosecutors were examining “expressions deemed to target women and citizens of a specific ethnic identity.” He did not name Koc directly in his post.

“Uttering such words under the guise of a joke does not mitigate the discourtesy displayed toward women and a specific segment of our society,” Gurlek wrote.

Koc Holding published a brief apology from Koc on X. He said his remarks “were not intended to target any particular group” and added, “I would like to sincerely express my regret.”

Koc stepped down as chairman of Koc Holding in 2003, transferring leadership to his eldest son, Mustafa Koc, who died of a sudden heart attack in 2016 at the age of 55.

Koc Holding was established in the 1920s as a family business. Its core sectors include energy, automotive, consumer goods and finance. The group is also active in technology, food, retail, tourism, agriculture and shipbuilding.

According to the company’s website, Koc Holding represents roughly seven percent of Turkey’s gross domestic product and about eight percent of the country’s total exports, reflecting the central role family-run conglomerates play in the Turkish economy.

Forbes magazine estimated this year that Rahmi Koc holds a personal fortune of $2.4 billion.

(With files from AFP)

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ISTANBUL,— Imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan said Tuesday he wants the opportunity to address the Turkish public directly, as he reaffirmed support for a peace process following decades of conflict.

Ocalan, founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK, is being held in solitary confinement and has spent 27 years in detention.

His message was released by lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish DEM party, who were authorized to visit him on Friday.

In the statement, he said the era of armed conflict had ended and there would be no return to violence.

He also stressed the need for broader communication so his views on the current process can be understood by a wider audience.

In 2025, the PKK formally abandoned its armed campaign against the Turkish state after more than 40 years of fighting. Turkish authorities say the conflict has killed more than 40,000 soldiers and Kurdish fighters.

Ocalan, 76, said the government should recognize that there is no ongoing destructive activity and no threat to national security.

He also called on a parliamentary commission tasked with determining the future status of the PKK and its former fighters to establish a comprehensive and inclusive legal framework without delay.

The PKK began its insurgency in 1984, seeking greater autonomy for Kurds, , which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, in Turkish Kurdistan (Bakur Kurdistan). Kurds make up nearly 30 percent of Turkey’s population of 85 million, based on 2012 figures.

Analysts say Ocalan is regarded as a central figure in the Kurdish movement for cultural rights and democratic freedoms. Over time, he has become a strong symbol of the wider Kurdish struggle.

(With files from AFP | Agencies)

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ISTANBUL,— Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM party said on Thursday that police detained dozens of minors over protests linked to a Syrian military operation targeting Kurds in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), last month.

The party called for a parliamentary investigation into the detentions.

In a petition submitted to parliament’s human rights commission, eight DEM lawmakers reported that at least 99 minors were detained in January in connection with demonstrations related to Syria.

The party said in a statement that 25 of those minors were formally arrested by court order.

The statement said prosecutors opened investigations on suspicion of organized propaganda over social media posts. The DEM party said the content should have been protected under freedom of expression provisions.

The petition referred to the case of a 16 year old detained in the western city of Izmir. The minor was taken into custody over a hair braiding video and a song shared online.

The party said the teenager was subjected to a strip search at a juvenile detention facility in the city.

Hair braiding became a symbol of solidarity with Syrian Kurds last month, as Damascus carried out a military offensive in northeastern Syria in an effort to reassert authority. The developments led to protests among Kurds in Turkish Kurdistan.

The DEM party said some of the minors were banned from seeing a lawyer for 24 hours. Others were subjected to physical violence during detention, questioned without legal representatives present and forced to sign documents under pressure.

The statement also said some minors were subjected to strip searches when entering detention centers. Others were insulted, cursed at or had their hair cut without consent.

During the Syrian operation, social media circulated videos of women braiding their hair in response to footage showing a Syrian soldier holding a braid that he said he had cut from a Kurdish woman fighter. The claim in the video could not be independently verified.

Turkish authorities responded by taking action against related social media posts. In the northwestern town of Kocaeli, a nurse was detained on charges of terrorist propaganda and later released under judicial control.

The Turkish Football Federation fined Amedspor FC 802,500 Turkish lira, nearly 18,500 U.S. dollars, for ideological propaganda after the club posted a 20 second hair braiding clip on social media. The federation also suspended the club’s president from all football activities for 15 days.

(With files from AFP)

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MARDIN,— Turkish authorities in the southeastern province of Mardin in Turkey Kurdistan (Bakur) have announced a six-day ban on all public gatherings following protests over a Syrian Islamist government offensive against Kurdish fighters in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava).

The ban, in effect until Saturday evening, prohibits marches, sit-ins, hunger strikes, press conferences, the distribution of leaflets or posters, and the setting up of tents or stands, according to a statement from the Mardin governorate.

Exceptions are allowed only for events officially approved by authorities.

Last week, more than 1,000 people in the Kurdish town of Nusaybin attempted to cross the border into Syrian Kurdistan to protest the Syrian offensive.

Turkey’s Kurdish community has criticized the government’s support for the operation in Syria’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

The pro-Kurdish Democratic Party (DEM) had called for a protest in Nusaybin on Tuesday, opposite the Syrian Kurdish city of Qamishlo, despite a ceasefire currently in northern Syria.

Authorities have already restricted outdoor gatherings in Amed (Diyarbakir), the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkish Kurdistan, from Friday through Monday evening.

Turkey has engaged in a peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), but clashes in Syrian Kurdistan threaten to affect ongoing negotiations.

The Mardin governorate said any action “intended to be carried out in open spaces” is banned, signaling strict control over public demonstrations while the Syrian offensive continues across the border.

(With files from AFP)

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LONDON,— Six Kurdish individuals appeared in a British court on Friday, facing charges of belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK, which is banned in Turkey, the United Kingdom, and several other countries.

Prosecutors told the court the defendants, aged between 24 and 63, were members of or claimed membership in the PKK. The organization was officially designated a “terrorist” group in Britain in 2001.

The six were charged following a police raid on a Kurdish Community Centre in north London in November 2024.

Additional charges against some defendants included organizing and speaking at meetings in 2023 and 2024 to support the PKK.

Despite the PKK’s announcement last year that it would disarm and disband, including a symbolic weapons-burning event, the group remains banned in the European Union, the United States, and other countries.

The defendants are Ercan Akbal, 57; Ali Boyraz, 63; Agit Karatas, 24; Berfin Kerban, 32; Turkan Ozcan, 60; and Mazlum Sayak, 28. All have pleaded not guilty to membership in a proscribed organization.

Akbal faces additional charges of arranging and addressing two meetings to promote PKK support. Ozcan and Sayak deny arranging two meetings for PKK support, while Boyraz and Karatas deny one count of speaking at a pro-PKK meeting.

Defense lawyer Larkin told the court that advocating for Kurdish self-determination is not illegal, but the methods used by the PKK led to its proscription.

The trial is expected to last up to three months.

The PKK launched an armed struggle against the Turkish state in 1984 to demand autonomy for Kurds in Turkish Kurdistan.

Kurds make up nearly 30 percent of Turkey’s population of 85 million, according to 2012 statistics. Turkey reports that over 40,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish guerrillas have died in the conflict.

(With files from Reuters | Agencies)

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ISTANBUL,— Jailed Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas, whose release has been ordered by the European Court of Human Rights, was sentenced to additional prison time on Tuesday for insulting Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his lawyer said.

Demirtas, 52, a former prominent and charismatic leader of Turkey’s Kurdish movement, has been imprisoned since 2016.

He faced multiple “terrorism-related” charges that his supporters and international human rights groups have criticized as politically motivated.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has repeatedly demanded his release, most recently issuing a binding ruling in November. Turkey has so far not complied with the order.

The new verdict adds one year, five months, and 15 days to Demirtas’ sentence, according to his lawyer, Ozgur Ozbek. The case combined several older charges of insulting President Erdogan stemming from speeches Demirtas made over a decade ago.

Ozbek said the court denied his legal team more time to prepare and issued a ruling quickly.

“The court acted rapidly because of concerns about the statute of limitations. Deciding the case before it is fully completed is not legally correct,” Ozbek said, adding that he intends to appeal the decision.

Demirtas was not present at the hearing after a judge rejected his request to attend on security grounds, BirGun newspaper reported.

This is not Demirtas’ first conviction for insulting the president. In 2021, he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison over criticism of the government’s handling of the 2015 downing of a Russian military jet near the Syrian border.

Demirtas remains a key figure in Turkey’s Kurdish political movement. Despite years behind bars, he continues to draw loyalty among Kurds and international attention.

Western governments and human rights organizations regard him as a political prisoner who was jailed after briefly helping to challenge Erdogan’s grip on parliament and advocate for minority rights.

Observers say the ruling highlights ongoing tensions between Turkey’s judicial system and European human rights authorities, and the case is likely to remain a point of diplomatic and domestic debate in the months ahead.

(With files from AFP)

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MARDIN, Turkey Kurdistan,— A Turkish court has sentenced Kurdish journalist Öznur Değer to three years and four months in prison for “terrorist propaganda” linked to her reporting on the deaths of two colleagues in a drone strike in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava).

The decision was announced Tuesday by the Second Heavy Penal Court in Mardin, Firat News Agency reported.

Değer, who serves as the news editor for the Kurdish women’s news agency JinNews, was not present at the hearing, and her legal team was absent.

Authorities said the case began after Turkish Special Anti-Terrorism Police (PÖH) raided her family home in Kızıltepe in February. She was arrested with force, held in pretrial detention for about three months, and later released on bail in May.

Prosecutors cited Article 7/2 of Turkey’s Anti-Terrorism Law, which criminalizes propaganda for organizations deemed terrorist, claiming Değer’s reporting and social media posts favoring the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The charges were linked to her coverage of a Turkish drone strike in late 2024 in the Kurdish region in northern and eastern Syria, which killed journalists Nazım Daştan and Cihan Bilgin.

The Diyarbakir (Amed)-based Dicle Firat Journalists’ Association (DFG) criticized the verdict. The group stated, “We reject this decision against our colleague. Journalism is not a crime and must not be treated as one.”

Human rights organizations, including the Human Rights Association (IHD), have long warned that Turkey’s courts misuse anti-terrorism laws to stifle dissent.

Analysts note that Kurds and left-wing activists are often targeted, with even speeches, articles, and peaceful protests treated as criminal acts.

In August 2024, a Turkish drone strike in Iraqi Kurdistan killed two Kurdish female journalists, Gulistan Tara and Hêro Bahadîn of Sterk TV. Another journalist, Rebin Bakir of CHATR Media Company, was seriously injured in the same strike, according to media watchdogs.

The sentencing of Değer adds to a pattern of legal and physical pressures faced by Kurdish journalists in Turkey and neighboring regions, highlighting ongoing challenges to press freedom and the reporting of military operations in conflict zones.

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LONDON,— A British court has overturned the conviction of a Kurdish-Armenian man who burned a Quran outside Turkey’s embassy in London, ruling that his act fell within the right to free expression and not under any criminal restriction.

The case has been welcomed by campaigners who say the decision protects freedom of speech against growing pressures from religious sensitivities.

Hamit Coskun, 51, born in Turkey to a Kurdish father and an Armenian mother, was convicted in June at Westminster Magistrates’ Court of a religiously aggravated public order offense after setting fire to the Quran outside Ankara’s consulate in central London in February 2025.

He was fined 240 pounds, or about $325, after shouting “Fuck Islam” while holding up the burning book.

While he burned the Islamic book outside the Turkish consulate, Coskun was attacked by a Muslim man identified as Moussa Kadri, who came out of a nearby residential building and threatened him, shouting, “I’m going to kill you,” before returning and slashing at him with a knife. Police later said that Kadri told officers he acted to protect his religion.

On Friday, Southwark Crown Court Judge Joel Bennathan reversed the conviction, stating that while the act might be deeply offensive to many Muslims, it did not amount to a criminal offense.

“Burning a Quran may be an act that many Muslims find desperately upsetting and offensive,” the judge said.

“However, the law does not exist to prevent people from being upset, even grievously upset. The right to freedom of expression, if it is a right worth having, must include the right to express views that offend, shock or disturb.” He added.

The National Secular Society (NSS) and the Free Speech Union (FSU) had supported Coskun’s appeal, arguing that he was essentially prosecuted for blasphemy, an offense abolished in England and Wales in 2008. Both groups said his conviction represented a dangerous return to punishing speech for religious reasons.

Turkey has repeatedly condemned public protests in Western countries involving Quran burnings, including several incidents in Sweden during 2023 that led to global demonstrations and diplomatic backlash.

Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee living in Sweden, burned a Quran during a protest, which led Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to accuse Stockholm of disrespecting Islam and obstruct its NATO bid.

Momika was killed by unknown Muslims in January 2025.

Speaking after his legal victory, Coskun said he had come to England “after being persecuted in Turkey, to be able to speak freely about the dangers of radical Islam.” He added that the court’s decision “shows that Britain still stands for freedom, even when it means tolerating offensive opinions.”

The Free Speech Union said the decision sends an important message that “anti-religious protests, however offensive to true believers, must be tolerated in a free country.”

An expert anthropologist, speaking to iKurd.net on condition of anonymity, offered a sharp warning, saying, “Islam is a very dangerous ideology because it encourages violence and killing all non-Muslims and doesn’t align with Western values. It should be legally banned in the West.”

“If European governments do not act immediately, they will pay a great price for allowing Muslim asylum seekers. Western people will lose faith in the law and take matters into their own hands against Muslims in Europe.” he added.

The ruling has also drawn political attention. Robert Jenrick, a senior Conservative Party lawmaker and justice spokesperson, said that the judgment reaffirms the limits of government interference in personal belief and public expression.

The case comes as tensions remain high between Turkey and Kurdish communities. Until earlier this year, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had been engaged in a decades-long armed conflict against Turkish forces before announcing an end to its military campaign.

Meanwhile, the Armenian people continue to seek global recognition of what they call the Ottoman Empire’s genocide during World War I, a charge that Ankara denies.

(With files from AFP | Agencies)

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