Book by Gültan Kışanak banned in Turkey

Completely unnoticed by the public, the book “The Color Purple in Kurdish Politics,” written by Gültan Kışanak while in prison, has been banned in Turkey since 2022, for allegedly bearing characteristics of “terrorist propaganda”.

Completely unnoticed by the public, the book “The Color Purple in Kurdish Politics” (original title “Kürt Siyasetinin Mor Rengi”), written by Gültan Kışanak while in prison, had been banned in Turkey for around a year and a half. As has only now become known, the work, which was published in 2018 by Dipnot Publishing in Ankara, was banned from bookstores in November 2022 by a court order in Izmir, for allegedly bearing the characteristics of “terrorist propaganda”. Neither Kışanak, who has been in prison for around eight years, nor the publisher were informed about the court decision. The incident only became known because the police confiscated a copy of the book during a search of Mezopotamya Agency (MA) journalist Mehmet Aslan, who was arrested a few days ago, as alleged "evidence" for terror charges.

Gültan Kışanak, who was mayor of the Kurdish metropolis of Amed until she was removed from office and replaced by a trustee appointed by the Turkish government, has published “The Color Purple in Kurdish Politics” which features texts by her fellow prisoners in Kandira jail. The texts in the book testify to the determined fight of Kurdish women against the patriarchal system of power in politics. The authors include women such as Aysel Tuğluk, Figen Yüksekdağ, Leyla Güven and Sebahat Tuncel, who are also in prison.