TEV-ÇAND Europe reiterated in a statement that firm director Yılmaz Güney is an important revolutionary personality for Kurdish art and condemned the smear campaign against him.

The European Kurdish Culture and Arts Movement (TEV-ÇAND) condemned the recent smear campaign on Kurdish film director Yılmaz Güney in a written statement.

TEV-ÇAND Europe said: "We strongly condemn the ugly and inappropriate attacks against Yılmaz Güney in recent days. Yılmaz Güney is not only a cinema artist, but also a revolutionary artist of great value for Kurdish culture and art.

Yılmaz Güney made brave and original films and told the problems and difficulties of the Kurdish people with great sincerity. He portrayed the deep feelings of the Kurdish identity and people in the world through cinema, and pioneered the language of art in helping many people confront the truth and raise awareness in society."

The statement continued: "The depth and creativity in Yılmaz Güney's art have made him one of the most important cinema directors in Turkey. His films, which left their mark on a period, had a great social and political impact and made a great contribution to the development of Kurdish and Turkish cinema."

The statement added that the film director “was also unjustly sent to prison. However, with his artistic spirit, he managed to produce works even behind the dark walls of a prison and continued to give lessons in humanity to those who judged him.

Even though Yılmaz Güney is not among us today, his cinema and stance will always be remembered. We will never forget the traces he left on our world of culture, art and cinema. His works will continue to be a source of inspiration for future generations.”

The statement condemned the attacks against Yılmaz Güney and reiterated that "he is  great value and an important revolutionary personality for Kurdish art. It is an indispensable responsibility for us to defend his and Halil Dağ's revolutionary art and commemorate them, and to preserve the richness of our Kurdish culture and art."

What happened?

On the occasion of the anniversary of Yılmaz Güney's death, writer Murathan Mungan wrote on his social media account: "It is the 37th anniversary of Yılmaz Güney's death. In addition to being a good director, a good actor, a good screenwriter, he was also the best man in our cinema. There will never be anyone like him again."

Responding to Mungan's post, Farah Zeynep Abdullah said: "Let's say he is the best walking man of our cinema and the one who beats women and uses weapons. He was rich in terms of types of violence."