The Van Book Fair organized by the Van Metropolitan Municipality usurped from the DBP opened its doors in the Middle East EXPO Congress Center. 150 publishers are participating in the fair with tens of thousands of books, but municipal officials have banned the promotion and sale of books in Kurdish.

Citizens who visited the fair to buy Kurdish books were told the officials “don’t have authority to make a statement” when they asked why the books were banned.

Fair officials didn’t allow recordings or interviews on the Kurdish book ban, and also banned journalists from entering the fair.