Restrictions on the Kurdish language are still in place at a high-security prison in Kocaeli. Translator guilds and publishers object to inmates being deprived of access to resources in other languages, which are guaranteed constitutionally


Members of the publishing sector and translator guilds have slammed the alleged violation of inmates’ rights, highlighting the situation faced by one prisoner in a high-security prison in the western province of Kocaeli.

Publications in foreign languages are subjected to security restrictions in Turkish prisons. Translator Tonguç Ok was put in a solitary cell in a high-security prison in Kocaeli in 2008 under a life sentence without the possibility of release. Ok was recently surprised at a move by the prison management restricting his ability to receive foreign books.

Books in Spanish and Kurdish that Ok ordered were not delivered to him under the justification that publications in foreign languages were not allowed for prisoners due to “security concerns.” Through his lawyers, Ok sent a letter to writers and translators guilds and filed a complaint against the prison management. The mentioned guilds took action after receiving the letter and released statements criticizing the prison management.

Although the case ended a short while ago and the ban preventing some publications in foreign languages entering the prison was lifted, it is still in effect for letters and publications in Kurdish.

Ok was convicted for taking part in a robbery during his time as a university student. The robbery ended with a casualty and while Ok confessed to the robbery attempt, he denied his involvement in the death. However, because Ok could not offer evidence to prove his claim, he was also convicted for murder.

120 liras per page for letter in Kurdish

Tevfik Taş, secretary-general of the Writers Union of Turkey, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review that in his second letter, Ok wrote that although some of the publications in foreign languages are allowed, they are still having great difficulties when it comes to Kurdish. Prisoners of Kurdish origin have had to pay 120 Turkish Liras to certified translators for each page of Turkish translation of their letters, and the prisoners still could not receive letters sent to them by their families.

Taş quoted a few sentences from Ok’s letter: “Many of our friends in prison cannot send the novels, stories and essays they write to the outside world because they are in Kurdish; therefore, they cannot get them published. I could not send a one-page story called “Gelincikler,” which I translated from Turkish into Kurdish from Pars Tuğlacı’s Armenian Literature Anthology for Tîroj magazine. Before, they used to say inspections [of the material] cannot be done since there are no Kurdish-speaking personnel in prison. However, telephone conversations in Kurdish are being made in prison, and of course they are monitored and the contents are recorded. Therefore the difficulty of the lack of Kurdish-speaking personnel must be exaggerated. Despite this, the ban continues.”

Clause three of Article 5275

Taş said the convicts in Kocaeli’s high-security prison are being kept in solitary cells and are only allowed to see another person for a couple of hours a day. “To prevent those people from reading means cutting their only connection with life,” he said. Taş said the restriction on publications in foreign languages is linked to clause three of Article 5275 of the Turkish Penal Code. “The mentioned article is like one written as a precaution against Kurdish. It is so open-ended that anyone may interpret or practice it anyway they like.”

Taş said the prison warden of the Kocaeli high-security prison was a good example of that. “The previous prison warden was not making it difficult to access publications in foreign languages. However the new manager interpreted this article of the law to his own liking and started to implement bans,” he said.

‘What is being experienced does not concur with constitutional rights’

“Is it a crime for prisoners to read books or translate?” asked Hasan Anamur, president of the Association of Translators, voicing his protest, adding, “It should not be forgotten that the convicts have the right to access sources that others can without obstacles.” Anamur cited the Ok’s situation and said such situations were violations of a person’s constitutional rights and the relevant authorities should immediately look into legal articles featuring such restrictions. Cavit Nacitarhan, editor in chief of Evrensel Publishing, with which Ok is affiliated, said: “In such times when bans are lifted and initiatives are voiced, it is impossible to accept such an embargo on the person’s effort to read, learn and produce. Ok is a valuable translator who has translated dozens of foreign works into our language.”