Türkiye: Drop investigation into Kurdish PEN member Mehmet Dicle and his publisher
‘Once again, the authorities of Türkiye are targeting a writer and a publisher merely because they dared draft and print a novel. The case is as dangerous as it is absurd. We stand with Kurdish PEN member Mehmet Dicle and ZİZ Publishing House and urge the authorities to stop initiating ludicrous terror-propaganda cases based on fictional literary writings.’ Burhan Sonmez, PEN International president.
30 May 2025: The authorities of Türkiye should not charge Kurdish PEN member Mehmet Dicle and ZİZ Publishing House with terror-propaganda, PEN International said today, as an investigation has been launched into Dicle’s novel Berfa Sor (Red Snow).
In April 2025, Mehmet Dicle’s lawyer informed him that an investigation had been launched against him and ZİZ Publishing House in relation to Dicle’s book Berfa Sor. Published in 2023, Berfa Sor is set in the fictional town of Asûs, and recalls the anguish and longing of the parents of a guerilla fighter. Dicle and his publisher stand accused of ‘making terrorist propaganda’ for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a charge that carries a lenghty prison term.
According to the investigation file, in January 2025, prison authorities in Yozgat, central Türkiye, seized a range of books from detainees, including Berfa Sor. Excerpts from the book were translated from Kurdish to Turkish by unofficial translators, with the Prosecutor’s Office concluding they amounted to terror-propaganda. The investigation file was subsequently sent to the Diyarbakır Prosecutor’s Office, where Dicle is based.
As repeatedly documented by PEN International – including in Identity on Trial: Persecution and Resistance, its Case List 2025 – the investigation into Dicle and his publisher comes amidst an ever-growing crackdown on reading materials and the publishing landscape in Türkiye. Scores of writers have seen their books sold with restrictions or outrightly banned in recent years.
The authorities of Türkiye should stop censoring and persecuting writers for the legitimate exercise of their right to freedom of expression – including through over-broad counter-terrorism laws – starting by urgently dropping their investigation into Mehmet Dicle and ZIZ Publishing House.
Additional information
Mehmet Dicle, born in 1977, is a Kurdish writer, editor and translator, co-founder and director of LiteraKurd Literary House in Diyarbakır, southeastern Türkiye. He is a member of Kurdish PEN. Dicle has published three short story collections written in Kurdish: Asûs (2005), Nara (2010) and Ta (2014). He also works as a translator and notably edited Kürt Dili ve Edebiyati (Kurdish Language and Literature, 2010), a textbook in Turkish. Since 2020, Dicle has been acting as editor of the short story magazine Kurdeçîrok. In 2025, together with a group of fellow writers, Dicle co-founded LiteraKurd Literary House in Diyarbakır, where he notably works as Director and coordinates many literary activities, including seminars, panels, children’s literature events, writing and translation workshops, and language courses.
ZİZ Publishing House was founded in 2023 in Diyarbakır and specialises in Kurdish literary works, including poetry, novels, short stories, and translated books.
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