Cesim Başboğa, one of the trainers of Serhed Cultural Association operating in Tetwan district of Bedlis, was sentenced to 1 year and 15 days in prison for the song “Serhildan jiyan e (Resistance is the life)”. A lawsuit was filed against Başboğa on September 8 on the allegation of “making propaganda for a chain of terrorist organizations” for the song “Serhildan jiyan e” he sang at the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) congress. The indictment claimed that the Kurdish song Başboğa sang had “different meanings” and therefore constituted “illegal organization propaganda”. In the first hearing held at Bitlis 2nd High Criminal Court on November 1, Başboğa was sentenced to 1 year and 15 days in prison for “making propaganda for an illegal organization”.

 

'THEY WANT TO INTIMIDATE THE PUBLIC' 

 

Speaking about the sentence against him, Başboğa stated that the song in question has been sung by many artists and listened to by millions of people on digital platforms. Başboğa stated that 3 separate investigations were opened against him due to the Kurdish songs he had sung before, and that this shows the state's approach towards Kurdish culture and language.  

 

Başboğa said: “We grew up with this language and these songs. They aim to weaken our memory and de-identify this people. They want to intimidate the people. We have seen many cases like this in recent months. There is a great intolerance to both language and culture. We will continue to sing our songs against the investigations and pressures. They cannot scare us in this way and make us step back.”