“Mao” slogan on HDP’s Kurdish poster found undesirable
The election campaign poster by the HDP in Dersim’s Nizamiye district that read “Yê Mao” (“Is Ours”) in the Kirmancki dialect of Kurdish was deemed undesirable and was removed.
Kurdish language posters by the HDP for the March 31 elections have been confiscated in various cities, citing wrongful translations as excuses. One poster in Dersim was confiscated for scandalous reasons.
The HDP poster in the Nazimiye district read “Yê Mao” (“Is Ours”), and the “Mao” part was deemed undesirable. The Dersim United Revolutionaries’ Nazimiye election bureau official was called in to the police headquarters to be asked what the expression meant. The HDP volunteer explained the poster to the police.
The police said the slogan “Yê Mao” is “Maoist”, and launched an investigation in Dersim city center. There wasn’t an active notice for the Nazimiye district, but the district center ordered all posters “with Mao” to be confiscated.
On March 14, HDP posters that read “Li Diji Ser Asiti” (“Peace Against War”) had been banned and confiscated in Urfa due to translation errors.
