PodcastFormer pro-Kurdish HEP deputy detained over books
A former deputy of the pro-Kurdish People's Labour Party (HEP), Mahmut Alınak was arrested on Feb. 13 following a search of his home in the eastern province of Kars. "We found 21 books," said one of the police officers while signing the official report about the search warrant at his home.
Duvar English
Former deputy of the pro-Kurdish People's Labour Party (HEP) Mahmut Alınak was detained at his home in the early hours of Feb. 13 over charges of "being a member of an organization."
"Well, take care!" said the 68-year-old Alınak whilst being transported to the police vehicle.
The Court of Peace in the eastern province of Kars issued the search and arrest warrants for Alınak.
"We found 21 books," said one of the police officers while signing the official report about the search.
Alınak had previously been arrested and jailed nine times.
Alınak's book was banned
Alınak's 2017 book "Mehmet Tunç and Bêkes" about Mehmet Tunç and his brother Orhan Tunç's son Bêkes, which means "all alone, solitary, one who has nobody" in Kurdish.
The Co-Chair of the People's Assembly - a local council - in the southeastern province of the predominantly Kurdish city of Cizre, Mehmet Tunç was killed in a basement during the December 2015-February 2016 curfew enforced amid Ankara's clashes with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), deemed a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
Orhan Tunç was with his brother when the basement they had taken refuge in collapsed in a bombing. Tunç's son Bêkes was named in honor of his father's legacy.
The book was banned when it was sent to an inmate in a prison in Kars.