ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The spokesperson for Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) told Rudaw on Friday that it is “not possible” to understand why Turkish authorities banned a Kurdish music concert earlier this month.
Renowned Kurdish singer Aynur Dogan was supposed to hold a music concert in Derince city, Kocaeli province, on May 20. However, the city’s municipality said in a statement on Sunday that they had banned the event “for being inconvenient,” without sharing further details. Cayirova district authorities in Kocaeli province also banned the performance of Don Kixot (Don Quixote), and another Kurdish concert was banned in the eastern province of Mus earlier this month.
Rudaw’s Omer Sonmez asked Faik Oztrak, CHP spokesperson, during a press conference in Ankara on Friday about his party’s position on the bans.
“Actually, it is difficult to understand what this government is doing,” Oztrak replied. “It is free in Turkey to sing Kurdish songs. It is not possible to understand why such a contract [permission] has been cancelled.”
Oztrak was referring to the initial permission granted to Dogan who had already sold a large number of tickets before being informed by authorities that the permission was revoked.
The spokesperson also said that they have repeatedly called for the resolution of Kurdish issue in the country through the parliament.
The ban, issued by a municipality held by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), on Dogan’s concert had caused controversy in Turkey. The CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu expressed support for the singer and shared one of her famous songs. However, Devlet Bahceli, leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), targeted Kilicdaroglu for his support of the Kurdish singer.
The Kurdish language had been banned in formal settings in Turkey since the establishment of the state until the AKP’s government partially removed the ban a decade ago, allowing Kurds to speak their language in informal settings and granting them the right to attend Kurdish elective courses at school and continue their studies in their mother tongue language at college.
Turkish authorities briefly detained Kurdish singer Zelal Gokce on Thursday without explaining why, according to her friend Hivda Gokel.
Updated at 8:44pm
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