content tagged with Mehdi Tanrıkulu

A court in Diyarbakır released Mehdi Tanrıkulu, editorial manager of the Kurdish Azadiya Welat newspaper, pending trial after 1.5 months in detention. Tanrıkulu was detained because he had insisted on presenting his defence in Kurdish.

Mehdi Tanrıkulu, editorial manager of the Kurdish Azadiya Welat newspaper, was arrested upon his claim to make his defence in court in Kurdish. Tanrıkulu faces imprisonment of up to ten years. He referred to the Treaty of Lausanne and the European Court of Human Rights.

Publisher Mehdi Tanrikulu has been sentenced to five months imprisonment for writing a petititon in Kurdish and for speaking Kurdish in court. He will appeal against the sentence.