Artist Kasım Taşdoğan was sentenced to two and a half years in prison in Turkey for singing Kurdish songs at Newroz celebrations. According to the verdict of a criminal court in Izmir, the songs in question are not ordinary songs, but “instruments of terrorist propaganda”.

The incriminated songs in question are “Ronahî û Berîvan”, “Hatin” and “Serhildan jiyan e”. Taşdoğan is said to have sung them at two Newroz celebrations last year in the cities of Kars and in Çanakkale, a coastal city in the Marmara region. A few weeks later, the Izmir public prosecutor's office filed charges, accusing him of “propaganda for a terrorist organization” – referring to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

In March of last year, Taşdoğan was acquitted in the court of first instance. The court concluded that singing the pieces – even if they glorify the armed resistance or pay tribute to those killed in the Kurdish liberation movement – is covered by freedom of expression and that there was no behavior that could be sanctioned under criminal law.

The public prosecutor's office went into revision and a higher court of appeal revoked the acquittal. It then sentenced Kasım Taşdoğan to ten months in prison for each of the three songs. However, the artist says that he will not be disheartened. He sees the verdict as a commitment by the judiciary to the “anti-Kurdish system” and wants to respond by “increasing the quality” of his art.