Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Rights Violations Faced by Kurdish Cultural Publishing

As the Kurdish Studies Center, with the support of ETKİNİZ, we have published the report titled “Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Monitoring Rights Violations Faced by Kurdish Cultural Publishing.”

Prepared through analysis of interviews with Kurdish publishing representatives and field observers, the report recalls the journey of Kurdish publishing in Türkiye and covers the challenges faced by the sector as well as the rights violations it endures.

According to the report, the law issued by the military government in 1983 — the “Law on Publications to be Made in Languages Other Than Turkish” — which prohibited publishing in Kurdish, was repealed in 1991 by Turgut Özal. This repeal marks a significant turning point for Kurdish publishing. The second important turning point is the Peace Process that took place between 2013-2015. Publishers describe this period as the “golden age” of Kurdish publishing.

The end of the Peace Process marked the beginning of a stagnation and regression period for Kurdish publishing. During this time, Kurdish publishing was frequently exposed to increasing rights violations after a long period of decline.

The rights violations identified in the monitoring process are categorized under headings such as discrimination and violations in printing and distribution, the impact of emergency decrees (KHKs) and trustee appointments to municipalities on Kurdish publishing, difficulties and violations in participating in book fairs, discrimination in support from the Ministry of Culture, banning and confiscation of books, failure to deliver books sent to prisons to inmates, and legal pressure on publishers.

You can access our report titled “Two Steps Forward, One Step Back”, prepared to understand and highlight the experiences, rights violations, and future expectations of Kurdish publishing houses in Türkiye over the past decade, via the link below.