Türkiye: Drop charges against Kurdish academic Güllistan Yarkın

‘Güllistan Yarkın’s academic writings challenge official narratives and have made her a target of the authorities of Türkiye, who continue to muzzle independent voices. The case against her sends a chilling warning to all writers and academics who dare explore difficult themes and must be dropped at once. We stand with Yarkın and will closely monitor developments,’ said Burhan Sonmez, PEN International President.

01 October 2026 – The authorities of Türkiye must drop all charges against Güllistan Yarkın and fully uphold the right to freedom of expression and academic freedom, PEN International said today. A Kurdish sociologist and human rights defender, Yarkın faces a prison term for ‘denigrating’ the Turkish nation or state institutions in relation to her academic research. Her trial opens in Ankara on 6 October.

Güllistan Yarkın – whose academic research specialises in areas including anti-racism, colonialism, social movements, Kurdish studies, and Turkish-Kurdish relations – stands accused of ‘denigrating the Turkish nation, the State of the Republic of Türkiye, the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, the Government of the Republic of Türkiye or the judicial bodies of the State’ under Article 301 of Türkiye’s Criminal Code, which carries between six months and two years in prison.

The charges against Yarkın stem from her Ph.D. dissertation, which she completed in 2017 in the Sociology Department at the State University of New York in the United States, entitled The Making of National-Racial Formation and Coloniality in Türkiye: Turkish-Kurdish Relations in a Working-Class District of Zeytinburnu in Istanbul, 1950-2017. In 2020, the Interuniversity Board in Türkiye rejected Yarkın’s application for diploma equivalence on the basis that some of the statements made in her dissertation may constitute a crime under Article 7/2 of Anti-Terror Law No. 3713 and Article 301 of the Criminal Code. As documented by PEN International, these provisions have repeatedly been used by the authorities of Türkiye to silence critical voices.

Although Yarkın’s dissertation has yet to be published, the Public Prosecutor’s office in Ankara issued an indictment against Yarkın on 17 August 2026 under Article 301 of the Criminal Code. The first hearing before Ankara’s 92nd Criminal Court of First Instance has been scheduled for 6 October. Yarkın is currently Guest Researcher at the University of Hamburg in Germany as a Philipp Schwartz Initiative fellow. Ongoing criminal proceedings threaten her ability to return to Türkiye.

PEN International reiterates calls on the authorities of Türkiye to fully abide by their international obligations to uphold the right to freedom of expression – including by repealing Article 301 of the Criminal Code and dropping all charges against Yarkın.  

Note to editors:

For further details contact Aurélia Dondo, Head of Europe and Central Asia Region at PEN International: [email protected]

 For media queries, please contact Sabrina Tucci, Head of Communications and Campaigns at PEN International: [email protected]