Turkish prison bans fourth novel by Demirtas

Prison officials at a jail in northwestern Turkey have denied a novel penned by jailed Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas, to be sent to an inmate, citing the book’s “obscene" content, Gazete Karinca reported.

The Bolu prison committee ruled that inmate Mustafa Tastan would not receive Demirtas's novel “Efsun” (Spell), which was mailed to him, over its obscene content that could “pose a security risk,’’ it said.
Published in September, Efsun was written by the former chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) during his fifth year behind bars on terror charges.
Tastan is set to file an appeal against the decision, the news outlet said, on grounds that the book was not a banned publication and contained a seal of approval by Turkey’s Culture Ministry.
Demirtas has described the book, which was written with help from his wife and two daughters, as “a modern love story.’’
Efsun is the fourth book Demirtas has authored behind bars.
The former co-chair of the HDP was arrested in 2016, alongside his co-chair Figen Yuksekdag and several HDP deputies, over alleged ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group at war in Turkey for Kurdish self-rule for four decades.
Demirtas denies the claim.
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