1.5 year prison sentence for praising YPG fighters' moustaches

A man living in Van province was sentenced to 1 year, 6 months and 22 days in prison for praising the moustaches of YPG fighters.

During the Kobanê resistance at the time of intensified attacks by ISIS, when Kurds and their friends rose up around the world in solidarity with Kobanê, Mehmet Ali Bora, a resident in Van province, Northern Kurdistan, shared the images of YPG fighters on social media and wrote “May I give my life for your moustaches”.

Van Chief Prosecutor opened an investigation against Bora for “spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization” and the man was sentenced to 1 year, 6 months and 22 days in prison by Van 4th Heavy Penal Court which cited praising the moustaches of YPG fighters as “terrorist propaganda”.

Mehmet Ali Bora strongly criticized the court verdict and said he would appeal against it.