Turkey: Yeni Demokrasi and Umut Publishing Face State Repression
We hereby share two unofficial translations of two notes published by Yeni Demokrasi on the 23rd of May, on censorship faced by this democratic newspaper and also by a publishing house.
A confiscation order has been issued for 4 issues of our newspaper.
A printing, distribution, and sales ban, as well as a confiscation order, has been issued for issues 148, 192, 199, and 200 of our newspaper, Yeni Demokrasi.
The Tunceli Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated an investigation into certain issues of the newspapers Yeni Demokrasi and Sosyalizm U Azadi. The prosecutor’s office requested a confiscation order for 4 issues of our newspaper and 14 issues of Sosyalizm U Azadi. The Tunceli Magistrates’ Court issued a ban on printing, distribution, and sale, and ordered the confiscation of 18 issues, alleging that they contained “organizational propaganda.”
A confiscation order was issued for 7 books.
The Tunceli Magistrates’ Court issued a confiscation, sale, and ban on seven books, including “Heroic Songs,” published by Umut Publishing in 1992.
The court banned the printing, distribution, and sale of the following books: Muzaffer Oruçoğlu’s “Heroic Songs,” Arif Çelebi’s “The Dawn of Communism,” Nazlı Gürbüz Top’s “The Guide to Courage,” Mukaddes Erdoğdu’s “Çelik’s Our Çakır; The Life of a Revolutionary,” Kutsiye Bozoklar’s “About Life,” İbrahim Okçuoğlu’s “Materialist Philosophy,” and Serkan Günebakan’s “On the Illuminated Slopes of the Struggle.” The court also ordered the confiscation and seizure of all copies of these books.
PRINTING, DISTRIBUTION, AND SALE ARE PROHIBITED.
The Magistrates’ Court’s decision stated, “Since the books are deemed to contain statements and expressions constituting propaganda for a ‘terrorist organization,’ a decision has been made to prohibit their printing, distribution, and sale, and to confiscate all copies, in accordance with Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terrorism Law No. 3713 and Article 25/2 of the Press Law No. 5187.”
