A probe was launched into books of Kurdish poet and writer Musa Anter who was killed in an armed attack in 1992.

As reported by Selda Güneysu from Cumhuriyet newspaper, the Istanbul Public Chief Prosecution initiated an investigation into a total of ten books, including three in Kurdish, published by the Aram Publishing Company. The probe carried out on charges of "making propaganda for an illegal organization via the media" also encompasses works of Musa Anter.

Dicle Anter, son of killed writer Musa Anter, announced in a statement, "The prosecutor's office forwarded questions to us like 'Why do you print books of a dead man?' They want to tell us to be silent, not to talk and not to look. They are silencing the intellectuals", Dicle Anter stated.

He noted that his father's books had been banned last in 1962 and claimed that the prohibiting attitude from 50 years ago was still being continued. Anter added:

"You know the triangle during the term of Tansu Çiller: the state, the mafia and the gangs... Now, this triangle is the state, the army and the judiciary. We do not know what we will do within this triangle", he said.

Dicle Anter reminded that the Monument of Humanity in Kars was demolished after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had called it a "monstrosity" and that Minister of the Interior İdris Naim Şahin accused artists of being "terrorists". Anter said that also the Taliban destroyed works of art. (EKN)

* Photograph: Hacı Erdoğan