ELAZIĞ - In Elazığ Women’s Closed Prison, prisoners, including DTK Co-chair Leyla Güven, were given a communication and meeting punishment on the grounds that they danced a halay accompanied by Kurdish song.

 

About nine women prisoners in Elazığ Women’s Closed Prison, including Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Co-chair Leyla Güven, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Diyarbakır Provincial Co-chair Hülya Alökmen Uyanık and Vice Chairperson of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) Fethiye Ok Çiçek, was learned that a disciplinary investigation was initiated on the grounds that they sang in Kurdish on August 15.

 

The expression ‘in an unkenned language’ for Kurdish

 

In the report prepared against them within the scope of the investigation launched, the Kurdish songs and lyrics sung by the female prisoners were written as ‘’singing a verbal halay in an unkenned language’’ and ‘’singing an anthem in an unkenned language’’, which caused great reactions.

 

Communication and meeting punishment

 

Her daughter Sabiha Temizkan, who had a phone call with DTK Co-chair Leyla Güven, shared the information that the prisoners were punished for meeting from her account on the digital media platform. Sabiha’s sharing is as follows: ‘’I talked to my mother Leyla Güven on the phone. As a result of this investigation, some prisoners, including my mother, were punished to one month of telephone communication, while other prisoners were punished to one month of family visit. For ‘dancing the halay singing in an unkenned language’.’’