Talha Kaya, who has held various positions in the Kurdish political movement for many years, was summoned by the police last year to give a statement regarding his posts over the past 11 years. Almost all of Kaya's posts were deemed criminal.

The trial of Kaya, accused of “spreading propaganda for an illegal organization”, was held at the Ağrı 2nd Heavy Penal Court on Friday. The politician is standing trial over a live broadcast from inside a car, in which he listened to a song called “Mevziden mevziye fırlayan...” (“From trench to trench...”), quotations from Abdullah Öcalan’s book Democratic Modernity, a post referring to former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu as “little brother-in-law,” his reaction to the display of the naked body of guerrilla Ekin Van in Varto in 2015, his criticism of the police attack against mothers outside a prison during hunger strikes in 2019, his possession of the Özgür Gündem newspaper, found in his home during a search in 2012.

The court ruled that Kaya's social media posts constituted a crime and sentenced him to one year and six months in prison on charges of “organization propaganda.”

Talha Kaya pointed out that he was being prosecuted for posts he shared 11 years ago. He said his posts were protected by freedom of expression and that he would appeal the ruling to a higher court.