The difficult struggle of Kurdish music
The difficult struggle of Kurdish music
The seizure and confiscations on Kurdish music albums in our history, ridden with bans, still continue in different ways after so many years. The prohibitive and repressive policies against the Kurdish music in the 90’s, the process beginning with the military coup on 12 September 1980, had remained unchanged by the time calendars showed the 2000’s.
Thousands of Kurdish albums are said to have been banned or seized because of a single word or a photograph on the album’s cover. SES Recording Company owner Ethem Güner, the producer of the first Kurdish album in 1988, describes those days as follows; “Far from speaking Kurdish, it was definitely prohibited at those times to say “lo” or “le” (Kurdish forms of address).”
Güner tells that he was brought to trial for many years because of the Kurdish albums he released. The cases, the shortest ones lasted for 4-5 years, ended either in imprisonment or pecuniary penalty sentenced on him.
We interviewed Ethem Güner about banned and seized Kurdish albums and banning policies that have periodically changed.
- Let’s start with your production adventure. Could you tell us what you experienced when you look back on the past?
- I was occupied with a tape recording job in Antep in the process after the 1980 coup. We would tape dengbej and some propaganda albums at that time when Þivan Perwer and similar names were all banned in the country. After some time, I had to make a move to Istanbul where I established SES Recording Company in 1986 after a four year period of self-employment. Kurdish albums would be listened secretly in the year of 1988 when many people were subject to torture for listening to these albums. In that process, firstly arms and secondly Kurdish albums would be seized in case of a police search. Most of the people would bury or destroy the albums they had. I think these albums were considered as arms at those times!... Most of the artists escaped to abroad in that process, while others did nothing.
THE FIST BAN ON AN UNKNOWN LANGUAGE
* Which album was the first one to be banned or seized?
- It was Beþir Kaya’s album the first to be seized. In 1988, I brought a local artist from Diyarbakýr to Istanbul as famous artists didn’t have a chance to sing in Kurdish. We prepared a Turkish-Kurdish album where he sang the famous Kurdish stran “Xezal Xezal” in Kurdish. To avoid any problem with the seven-person state mechanism of the Ministry of Culture, we wrote all lyrics of the album in Turkish while delivering it to them. We acted as if there was no Kurdish in the album. However, the album was recalled from the market within the first week it was released. There was a great demand for Kurdish albums in that period. In the meantime, the company was sued at High Criminal Courts and we were charged with production in an unknown language. The trial process of this case lasted very long. This was the first album recall that both I and the history have witnessed. After 1988, I started to release the albums of Þivan Perwer. Of the Kurdish albums that were released in that period, all were either recalled or sued. Apart from Kurdish albums, the albums of names like Ahmet Kaya, Zülfü Livaneli and Selda Baðcan were also recalled from the market.
THE PURPOSE WAS TO RECALL ALBUMS
* Was the first ban grounded on the reason of “an unknown language” alone or did this ban have other reasons as well?
- The first album I released in 1988 was recalled throughout the country on the grounds of being a “production in an unknown language”. The prosecutor’s didn’t even mention the word Kurdish on the accusation which described it as an unknown language. The reason for this was the fact that writing the word Kurdish on official records would be evaluated as committing a crime. Ridiculous reasons were shown on the prosecutor’s accusation of “production in an unknown language”. During a trial, the lawyer pled that “there can’t be an unknown crime”. We were acquitted of this case seven years later. Actually, we were acquitted of all the cases opened against Kurdish albums because the real purpose was to prevent the albums from reaching the people. The results of the cases were all announced five to six years later. However, it was absolutely banned to distribute albums during the trial process. Therefore, albums would lose their actuality by the time trial processes ended and it would make no sense to release them again.
We mainly released love themed songs in that period to show that there was nothing ‘separatist’ in the songs. However, after the 1980 coup, the first discussions on Kurdish began within this period. One year later, Rahmi Saltuk released an album where he sang the Kurdish song Hoy Nare. His album was also recalled from the market soon in the same way. This period also witnessed similar attempts and new albums released by many other companies.
90’S THE HARDEST TIMES
* What about 90’s? How were those years when compared to 80’s?
- Stricter practices were implemented in 90’s for the prohibition of Kurdish albums. The seven-person state mechanism of the Ministry of Culture acquired two new representatives from the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Culture. The release of albums, videos or movies was only approved after a detailed examination of their context by the Ministry of Culture. In order to make this control through, we would deform the lyrics; we would for example write “Gülistan” for the word “Kurdistan”. Some words were able to get over that ban wall in this way but the problems wouldn’t end after releasing the album too. Despite the decision of the Ministry of Culture, governors had the authority to recall an album in the provinces they governed. Such a decision by a single governor could also lead to the recall of the album across the country because a governor could also inform other governors who in the same way recalled this album from the market, believing that it for sure consisted of a crime factor. The permission of the Ministry of Culture therefore didn’t have a meaning at all.
1993-1994 were the years that witnessed the most intense pressures in this respect. Many artists and companies gradually entered the sector to satisfy the hunger for Kurdish albums. Each album was recalled soon after its release, especially in the Kurdish region. We were later tried by State Security Courts after their formation. Most of the cases were concluded a few years later. When I received a sentence from the court, I would generally benefit from amnesty after some time. The sentences ruled on me were suspended for three years when I didn’t commit the same crime in that period. I was the responsible manager of the company at that time. However, my brother would replace me when I couldn’t stay at the company. In this way, we alternately survived the company until 2000’s.
* What would you say when you compare the political approach of 2000’s with that of 90’s? What kind of a change has been lived in 2000’s?
- The policy has never changed so far. 1993-1994 were the years when we experienced pressure the most. However, the Kurdish music, Kurdish culture and Kurdish theatre in 90’s were in a better situation than that of after 2000’s. Internet and the development of digital technologies play a major role in this respect. SES Recording Company would release at least 15 to 20 albums each year in the process starting from 1990 to 2000 but the number of albums we released decreased to three or four in 2003 after which I never released an album. The reason for this end was the technology but there were some other factors as well. There has been a critical separation in the society as people have been subject to a serious racism. Kurdish albums aren’t sold in the market anymore. You cannot find any Kurdish album in western provinces for example. Only an album by Þivan Perwer would appear in several music stores, not any more. These albums aren’t even put on sale because they aren’t bought even in biggest cities such as Istanbul and Izmir. Demand for these albums also decrease when they aren’t put on sale in music stores; consumers therefore get these albums from informal ways, through piracy in other words.
“WE WERE LEFT WITH OUR LOSSES”
* You must have had financial troubles at those times because of recall of albums and long lasting trials…
- We were indeed in a critical financial difficulty. The state was actually making a deliberate move; it was making us sustain a loss by impose penalties on us for ‘committing a crime’. Nothing really happens in this process but all the losses were lived by our side for many years. I lived difficulties in economic affairs of the company many times because we always spent extra money to be able to release those albums. The system of the sector normally demands the money of the album after its release but we always had to pay the expenses before the album’s release. Those who worked with us didn’t want to take any commercial risk because the albums we released were recalled at each time. Everything that we spent money on was always recalled from the market.
We had great difficulties because we were releasing unordinary albums like those of Þivan Perwer, Ciwan Haco and MKM. We would pay cash for these albums with the money we borrowed from our friends. The company often went bankrupt as the state seized all our productions. This commercial trouble lasted from 1988 till 1991 when I started to export albums of famous Turkish artists to Europe. And I was trying to survive the company with the Money I earned from this export. I did all these things because I am a Kurd. I myself am an eye-witness of what Kurds went through. A fair and conscientious Kurd would never bow to all that was made to his people. I have paid prices in a territory where everyone else has also paid prices. Who else would have done all these if I hadn’t done them? I never regretted what I did.
* Did you face any threat or pressure except for the intimidation policy that the state practiced by means of accusations and long-lasting trial processes?
- Yes, indeed. A web-site called Clean Hands wrote in 1996 or 1997 that SES Recording, KOM Music, Gün Printing and a Kurdish album seller were providing pecuniary resource to the “terror organization”. I was also pointed as a target on the list of the people to be killed. Apart from that, we received several threat letters from some person called TÝT in 1994. Within the coming process, SES Recording Com. purchased the shares of Radio Umut which was a remarkable opponent voice in that period and broadcasted programs with Kurds, Alewis and democratic segments. However, the radio was closed in 1999; which made me live the real disappointment and breakdown. It was unlawfully closed by RTÜK (radio and television supreme council) in 1999 on the pretext that it broadcasted the statement of ERNK (Kurdistan National Liberation Front). After one year, it started broadcast again and survived until it was burnt down not long after.
*Which reasons made you so determined in this process?
- This kind of things don’t let you lose your motivation if you risk something and be sure of what you are doing. The territory that I was living in motivated me while I was being constricted by means of legal processes and financial troubles. Besides, being Kurd is a problem all by itself for this state. In the territory I live in, a twenty year-old soldier can easily slap in the face of your seventy year-old grandfather on the pretext of asking an address. I am a Kurd as well as an Alewi and this identity makes me become “the other” in big cities. What you experience because of your identity form a resistance within you. If you are a Kurd, a leftist or an Alewi in this country, you win this resistance in time as a matter of course.
* Apart from the losses of producers owing to the recall and ban of albums, what kind of a loss did the artists themselves experience?
- While some talented artists instead released Turkish albums in that period, the ones who had experienced the difficulties of living in that territory and being the other preferred to release their albums in Kurdish. This was however the most difficult choice; to try to live and release Kurdish albums in Turkey. The Kurdish artists abroad were able to make a living from the concerts they gave but the ones in turkey didn’t have such an opportunity. Kýzýlýrmak, Ferhat Tunç, Þivan Perwer or other artists can today earn money from the concerts they give but the situation isn’t the same for producers who don’t have any other sources of income.
KURDISH STILL AN UNKNOWN LANGUAGE TODAY
*What kind of differences are there when you compare today with 30 years earlier?
- I think nothing has changed in this process. Despite the 30 years’ time that has gone by, the unknown language dilemma that I faced 30 years ago still continues today. We can obviously see the pressure imposed on the Kurdish media today. Apart from that, I wonder how many Kurdish movies are budgeted by the Ministry of Culture or how many among thousands of television channels broadcast Kurdish music. There are more than a hundred radio stations in Istanbul which has a high Kurdish population but none of these channels properly broadcasts Kurdish songs that we can only listen as much as songs in Spanish or Italian. The approach towards the Kurdish culture remains the same. On the other hand, TRT ÞEÞ is a very serious political deception step taken by the government. When the channel first started broadcast, I felt pleased as I thought Kurds also had an opportunity to voice themselves in an institution of the state. However, I later saw that the context of the channel was determined according to the desire and benefits of the state itself. RTÜK will today never agree to an application to establish a national TV channel for Kurds.
NOBODY SELLS A KURDISH ALBUM
*Are the bans of the past still effective today?
-The pressure today is different from that of the past. The neighborhood pressure and the destruction of all materials and supplies by the state remove the need to impose a concrete ban. Racism has reached an incredible point. Nobody sells a Kurdish album today. The demand of our professional union MÜYAP for Kurdish music broadcast on internet from TTNET constituted a serious problem. Among the many Kurdish albums released from 90’s till today, you cannot find any of them on legal sales channels. Among other things, there is a problem with the letters of the Kurdish alphabet because you need to know the written form of the Kurdish language to search things in Kurdish on internet. All Kurdish songs have been collected in a store by MÜYAP which can purchase them today and enable their appearance in legal platforms. Above all things, there is an undeniable discrimination against the Kurdish language.
IMPRISONMENT SENTENCE TO A GRANNIE ON ALBUM COVER
* Are there any examples of interesting cases you have experienced?
- In 90’s, we released a mixed album which consisted of Kurdish songs and an album by Kýzýlýrmak which was called ‘from Pir Sultan to Nesimi’. We wanted to export these albums abroad but the truck which was used fort his export was searched in detail at Kapýkule border in turkey. They found nothing but a calendar and the albums. On the cover of the album ‘from Pir Sultan to Nesimi’, there was an Anatolian grandmother who was later recorded on official reports as ‘looking very much like “terror organization” leader Abdullah Öcalan’s mother’. The albums were therefore seized and the driver of the truck was remanded in custody for three days. All details of the driver and the truck were searched for a long time. As the truck was also carrying other goods to be exported abroad, the owners of these goods also attempted to sue us, saying that they couldn’t export their goods because of us. The case which was opened because of the Anatolian grandmother on the cover lasted for five years and ended in imprisonment sentence on us which was later changed into a fine.
* What should the Ministry of Culture do in this respect?
- The Ministry of Culture should do nothing but to keep its hands off Kurdish works together with all other state institutions. All it should do is to give an equal support to the Kurdish cinema, theater and music in an ethical way and to avoid discrimination. However, the real obstacle in front of the Kurdish language is constituted by RTÜK, not the Ministry of Culture. The greatest obstacle is also the press which is the prolongation of the present racist, discriminatory and monist mentality. Those who approached the problem with fear in the past approach the problem from an ideological aspect today. All these attacks and pressures have targeted the honor and culture of the Kurdish people as their physical existence couldn’t be destroyed despite everything.
Thousands of Kurdish albums are said to have been banned or seized because of a single word or a photograph on the album’s cover. SES Recording Company owner Ethem Güner, the producer of the first Kurdish album in 1988, describes those days as follows; “Far from speaking Kurdish, it was definitely prohibited at those times to say “lo” or “le” (Kurdish forms of address).”
Güner tells that he was brought to trial for many years because of the Kurdish albums he released. The cases, the shortest ones lasted for 4-5 years, ended either in imprisonment or pecuniary penalty sentenced on him.
We interviewed Ethem Güner about banned and seized Kurdish albums and banning policies that have periodically changed.
- Let’s start with your production adventure. Could you tell us what you experienced when you look back on the past?
- I was occupied with a tape recording job in Antep in the process after the 1980 coup. We would tape dengbej and some propaganda albums at that time when Þivan Perwer and similar names were all banned in the country. After some time, I had to make a move to Istanbul where I established SES Recording Company in 1986 after a four year period of self-employment. Kurdish albums would be listened secretly in the year of 1988 when many people were subject to torture for listening to these albums. In that process, firstly arms and secondly Kurdish albums would be seized in case of a police search. Most of the people would bury or destroy the albums they had. I think these albums were considered as arms at those times!... Most of the artists escaped to abroad in that process, while others did nothing.
THE FIST BAN ON AN UNKNOWN LANGUAGE
* Which album was the first one to be banned or seized?
- It was Beþir Kaya’s album the first to be seized. In 1988, I brought a local artist from Diyarbakýr to Istanbul as famous artists didn’t have a chance to sing in Kurdish. We prepared a Turkish-Kurdish album where he sang the famous Kurdish stran “Xezal Xezal” in Kurdish. To avoid any problem with the seven-person state mechanism of the Ministry of Culture, we wrote all lyrics of the album in Turkish while delivering it to them. We acted as if there was no Kurdish in the album. However, the album was recalled from the market within the first week it was released. There was a great demand for Kurdish albums in that period. In the meantime, the company was sued at High Criminal Courts and we were charged with production in an unknown language. The trial process of this case lasted very long. This was the first album recall that both I and the history have witnessed. After 1988, I started to release the albums of Þivan Perwer. Of the Kurdish albums that were released in that period, all were either recalled or sued. Apart from Kurdish albums, the albums of names like Ahmet Kaya, Zülfü Livaneli and Selda Baðcan were also recalled from the market.
THE PURPOSE WAS TO RECALL ALBUMS
* Was the first ban grounded on the reason of “an unknown language” alone or did this ban have other reasons as well?
- The first album I released in 1988 was recalled throughout the country on the grounds of being a “production in an unknown language”. The prosecutor’s didn’t even mention the word Kurdish on the accusation which described it as an unknown language. The reason for this was the fact that writing the word Kurdish on official records would be evaluated as committing a crime. Ridiculous reasons were shown on the prosecutor’s accusation of “production in an unknown language”. During a trial, the lawyer pled that “there can’t be an unknown crime”. We were acquitted of this case seven years later. Actually, we were acquitted of all the cases opened against Kurdish albums because the real purpose was to prevent the albums from reaching the people. The results of the cases were all announced five to six years later. However, it was absolutely banned to distribute albums during the trial process. Therefore, albums would lose their actuality by the time trial processes ended and it would make no sense to release them again.
We mainly released love themed songs in that period to show that there was nothing ‘separatist’ in the songs. However, after the 1980 coup, the first discussions on Kurdish began within this period. One year later, Rahmi Saltuk released an album where he sang the Kurdish song Hoy Nare. His album was also recalled from the market soon in the same way. This period also witnessed similar attempts and new albums released by many other companies.
90’S THE HARDEST TIMES
* What about 90’s? How were those years when compared to 80’s?
- Stricter practices were implemented in 90’s for the prohibition of Kurdish albums. The seven-person state mechanism of the Ministry of Culture acquired two new representatives from the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Culture. The release of albums, videos or movies was only approved after a detailed examination of their context by the Ministry of Culture. In order to make this control through, we would deform the lyrics; we would for example write “Gülistan” for the word “Kurdistan”. Some words were able to get over that ban wall in this way but the problems wouldn’t end after releasing the album too. Despite the decision of the Ministry of Culture, governors had the authority to recall an album in the provinces they governed. Such a decision by a single governor could also lead to the recall of the album across the country because a governor could also inform other governors who in the same way recalled this album from the market, believing that it for sure consisted of a crime factor. The permission of the Ministry of Culture therefore didn’t have a meaning at all.
1993-1994 were the years that witnessed the most intense pressures in this respect. Many artists and companies gradually entered the sector to satisfy the hunger for Kurdish albums. Each album was recalled soon after its release, especially in the Kurdish region. We were later tried by State Security Courts after their formation. Most of the cases were concluded a few years later. When I received a sentence from the court, I would generally benefit from amnesty after some time. The sentences ruled on me were suspended for three years when I didn’t commit the same crime in that period. I was the responsible manager of the company at that time. However, my brother would replace me when I couldn’t stay at the company. In this way, we alternately survived the company until 2000’s.
* What would you say when you compare the political approach of 2000’s with that of 90’s? What kind of a change has been lived in 2000’s?
- The policy has never changed so far. 1993-1994 were the years when we experienced pressure the most. However, the Kurdish music, Kurdish culture and Kurdish theatre in 90’s were in a better situation than that of after 2000’s. Internet and the development of digital technologies play a major role in this respect. SES Recording Company would release at least 15 to 20 albums each year in the process starting from 1990 to 2000 but the number of albums we released decreased to three or four in 2003 after which I never released an album. The reason for this end was the technology but there were some other factors as well. There has been a critical separation in the society as people have been subject to a serious racism. Kurdish albums aren’t sold in the market anymore. You cannot find any Kurdish album in western provinces for example. Only an album by Þivan Perwer would appear in several music stores, not any more. These albums aren’t even put on sale because they aren’t bought even in biggest cities such as Istanbul and Izmir. Demand for these albums also decrease when they aren’t put on sale in music stores; consumers therefore get these albums from informal ways, through piracy in other words.
“WE WERE LEFT WITH OUR LOSSES”
* You must have had financial troubles at those times because of recall of albums and long lasting trials…
- We were indeed in a critical financial difficulty. The state was actually making a deliberate move; it was making us sustain a loss by impose penalties on us for ‘committing a crime’. Nothing really happens in this process but all the losses were lived by our side for many years. I lived difficulties in economic affairs of the company many times because we always spent extra money to be able to release those albums. The system of the sector normally demands the money of the album after its release but we always had to pay the expenses before the album’s release. Those who worked with us didn’t want to take any commercial risk because the albums we released were recalled at each time. Everything that we spent money on was always recalled from the market.
We had great difficulties because we were releasing unordinary albums like those of Þivan Perwer, Ciwan Haco and MKM. We would pay cash for these albums with the money we borrowed from our friends. The company often went bankrupt as the state seized all our productions. This commercial trouble lasted from 1988 till 1991 when I started to export albums of famous Turkish artists to Europe. And I was trying to survive the company with the Money I earned from this export. I did all these things because I am a Kurd. I myself am an eye-witness of what Kurds went through. A fair and conscientious Kurd would never bow to all that was made to his people. I have paid prices in a territory where everyone else has also paid prices. Who else would have done all these if I hadn’t done them? I never regretted what I did.
* Did you face any threat or pressure except for the intimidation policy that the state practiced by means of accusations and long-lasting trial processes?
- Yes, indeed. A web-site called Clean Hands wrote in 1996 or 1997 that SES Recording, KOM Music, Gün Printing and a Kurdish album seller were providing pecuniary resource to the “terror organization”. I was also pointed as a target on the list of the people to be killed. Apart from that, we received several threat letters from some person called TÝT in 1994. Within the coming process, SES Recording Com. purchased the shares of Radio Umut which was a remarkable opponent voice in that period and broadcasted programs with Kurds, Alewis and democratic segments. However, the radio was closed in 1999; which made me live the real disappointment and breakdown. It was unlawfully closed by RTÜK (radio and television supreme council) in 1999 on the pretext that it broadcasted the statement of ERNK (Kurdistan National Liberation Front). After one year, it started broadcast again and survived until it was burnt down not long after.
*Which reasons made you so determined in this process?
- This kind of things don’t let you lose your motivation if you risk something and be sure of what you are doing. The territory that I was living in motivated me while I was being constricted by means of legal processes and financial troubles. Besides, being Kurd is a problem all by itself for this state. In the territory I live in, a twenty year-old soldier can easily slap in the face of your seventy year-old grandfather on the pretext of asking an address. I am a Kurd as well as an Alewi and this identity makes me become “the other” in big cities. What you experience because of your identity form a resistance within you. If you are a Kurd, a leftist or an Alewi in this country, you win this resistance in time as a matter of course.
* Apart from the losses of producers owing to the recall and ban of albums, what kind of a loss did the artists themselves experience?
- While some talented artists instead released Turkish albums in that period, the ones who had experienced the difficulties of living in that territory and being the other preferred to release their albums in Kurdish. This was however the most difficult choice; to try to live and release Kurdish albums in Turkey. The Kurdish artists abroad were able to make a living from the concerts they gave but the ones in turkey didn’t have such an opportunity. Kýzýlýrmak, Ferhat Tunç, Þivan Perwer or other artists can today earn money from the concerts they give but the situation isn’t the same for producers who don’t have any other sources of income.
KURDISH STILL AN UNKNOWN LANGUAGE TODAY
*What kind of differences are there when you compare today with 30 years earlier?
- I think nothing has changed in this process. Despite the 30 years’ time that has gone by, the unknown language dilemma that I faced 30 years ago still continues today. We can obviously see the pressure imposed on the Kurdish media today. Apart from that, I wonder how many Kurdish movies are budgeted by the Ministry of Culture or how many among thousands of television channels broadcast Kurdish music. There are more than a hundred radio stations in Istanbul which has a high Kurdish population but none of these channels properly broadcasts Kurdish songs that we can only listen as much as songs in Spanish or Italian. The approach towards the Kurdish culture remains the same. On the other hand, TRT ÞEÞ is a very serious political deception step taken by the government. When the channel first started broadcast, I felt pleased as I thought Kurds also had an opportunity to voice themselves in an institution of the state. However, I later saw that the context of the channel was determined according to the desire and benefits of the state itself. RTÜK will today never agree to an application to establish a national TV channel for Kurds.
NOBODY SELLS A KURDISH ALBUM
*Are the bans of the past still effective today?
-The pressure today is different from that of the past. The neighborhood pressure and the destruction of all materials and supplies by the state remove the need to impose a concrete ban. Racism has reached an incredible point. Nobody sells a Kurdish album today. The demand of our professional union MÜYAP for Kurdish music broadcast on internet from TTNET constituted a serious problem. Among the many Kurdish albums released from 90’s till today, you cannot find any of them on legal sales channels. Among other things, there is a problem with the letters of the Kurdish alphabet because you need to know the written form of the Kurdish language to search things in Kurdish on internet. All Kurdish songs have been collected in a store by MÜYAP which can purchase them today and enable their appearance in legal platforms. Above all things, there is an undeniable discrimination against the Kurdish language.
IMPRISONMENT SENTENCE TO A GRANNIE ON ALBUM COVER
* Are there any examples of interesting cases you have experienced?
- In 90’s, we released a mixed album which consisted of Kurdish songs and an album by Kýzýlýrmak which was called ‘from Pir Sultan to Nesimi’. We wanted to export these albums abroad but the truck which was used fort his export was searched in detail at Kapýkule border in turkey. They found nothing but a calendar and the albums. On the cover of the album ‘from Pir Sultan to Nesimi’, there was an Anatolian grandmother who was later recorded on official reports as ‘looking very much like “terror organization” leader Abdullah Öcalan’s mother’. The albums were therefore seized and the driver of the truck was remanded in custody for three days. All details of the driver and the truck were searched for a long time. As the truck was also carrying other goods to be exported abroad, the owners of these goods also attempted to sue us, saying that they couldn’t export their goods because of us. The case which was opened because of the Anatolian grandmother on the cover lasted for five years and ended in imprisonment sentence on us which was later changed into a fine.
* What should the Ministry of Culture do in this respect?
- The Ministry of Culture should do nothing but to keep its hands off Kurdish works together with all other state institutions. All it should do is to give an equal support to the Kurdish cinema, theater and music in an ethical way and to avoid discrimination. However, the real obstacle in front of the Kurdish language is constituted by RTÜK, not the Ministry of Culture. The greatest obstacle is also the press which is the prolongation of the present racist, discriminatory and monist mentality. Those who approached the problem with fear in the past approach the problem from an ideological aspect today. All these attacks and pressures have targeted the honor and culture of the Kurdish people as their physical existence couldn’t be destroyed despite everything.
