Censorship - the Turkish way

By Ole Reitov

“Possession and storage in your shop and store, copying, sale, presentation or broadcasting to the public of cassette tapes and CDs mentioned on the attached list with title, singer, publisher, issuing authority of prohibition and collection of the prohibited material as well as date will have legal consequences.”

This is censorship – Turkish style. It is seldom that we are able to show documents that instruct shop owners or broadcasting stations to keep away from specific recordings. This document was issued by the Police Headquarters in the Bingöl Province of Turkey three years ago.

On the list are several CDs by Ferhat Tunç - the Kurdish singer who has been jailed, harassed and taken to court several times for protesting the suppression of Kurdish culture and criticizing Turkish authorities.

The documents do not indicate why the records are banned.